.     rS?J  S\i 


• 


m 


Liberty  Enlightening  the  World. 


THE  RISE  AND  FALL 


•OF- 


Anarchy  in  America. 

FROM    ITS    INCIPIENT    STAGE    TO    THE 

FIRST  BOMB  THROWN  IN  CHICAGO. 

A  COMPREHENSIVE  ACCOUNT  OF  THE   GREAT    CONSPIRACY 
CULMINATING  IN  THE 

Haymarket   Massacre, 

MAY  4th,    1886. 

A  MINUTE  ACCOUNT  OF  THE    APPREHENSION,  TRIAL,  CON- 
VICTION AND  EXECUTION   OF  THE  LEADING 
CONSPIRATORS. 


GEO.  3ST-  ^cHiE^lSr. 


DRDER  IS  HEAVEN'S  FIRST  LAW," 


PROFUSELY    IXjXjTTST'K^^I'EID. 


SOLD  BY  SUBSCRIPTION  ONLY. 


R    G.  Badoux  &  Co. 

Chicago  &  Philadelphia. 

iSSS. 


Copyrighted,  1888. 

R.  G.  BADOUX  *  CO. 

{All  rights  reserved^ 


Chapter  I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

"Order  is  Heaven's  First  Law"  —  Liberty  Enlightening  the  World  —  The  Red 
Flag — The  Price  of  Liberty — Our  National  Institutions  —  When  Judgment 
and  Justice  is  Abroad  in  the  Land  the  People  will  Learn  Righteousness  ...       9 

Chapter  II. 

ANARCHISTS. 

Their  Nationality  —  First  Agitation — Leader  of  Anarchy  —  Revenge  Circular — 
The  Haymarket  Meeting  —  The  Lehr  und  Wehr  Verein  —  The  Massacre  — 
Dispersing  the  Mob 12 

Chapter    III. 

THE    GREAT   CONSPIRACY. 

Bravery  of  the  Police  —The  Occupation  of  the  Conspirators — The  Trial — Secur- 
ing a  Jury  —  Bombs  in  Court  —  Evidence  of  Detective  Johnson — Parsons 
Swears  He  "  Wont  Eat  Snow-Balls  Next  Winter" — Drilling  Anarchists — 
Pinkerton  Detectives--Cross-Examination — Bombs  and  Dynamite — Parsons' 
View  of  the  Board  of  Trade — Guns,  Dynamite  and  Prussic  Acid  Advocated 
by  Spies — Prosecution  Rests  Its  Case 20 

Chapter  IV. 

THE    DEFENSE. 

Under  a  Cloud — A  Struggle  For  Life— Contesting  Every  Point  by  Shrewd 
Counsel  —  Braving  it  Out  —  Throttling  the  Law  —  Fielden  on  the  Stand  — 


CONTENTS. 


Laughable  Testimony  by  Henry  Schultz,  Who  Said  He  was  a  Tourist — 
Schwab's  Evidence — Spies  Testifies — Postal  Card  From  Herr  Most — Close 
of  the  Defense 64 


Chapter  V. 

ARGUMENTS    FOR    THE    PROSECUTION    AND    DEFENSE. 

Opening  Speech  by  Frank  Walker— "We  Stand  in  the  Temple  of  Justice" — 
Zeisler  for  the  Defense,  Ingham  for  the  Prosecution— Messrs.  Foster  and 
Black  for  the  Defense  — Julius  S.  Grinnell  Makes  Closing  Speech  for  the 
State 100 

Chapter  VI. 
INSTRUCTIONS    OF   THE    COURT. 

The   Verdict — Blanched  Faces — The  Court  to  the  Jury — Biography,  Age  and 

Residence  of  the  Jurors 119 

Chapter  VII. 

THE    CONSPIRACY    AND   MASSACRE. 

Names  and  Number  of  Killed  and  Wounded— Unearthing  the  Plot — Officers  at 
Work — Crowned  With  Success — Report  of  Grand  Jury— The  Number  of 
Widows  and  Orphans  Resulting  From  One  Explosion 119 

Chapter  VIII. 

COST   OF   TRIAL. 

Extracts  from  Zeitung — Motion  for  New  Trial — Motion  Overruled 139 

Chapter   IX. 

SPIES   ADDRESSES   THE   COURT. 

Three  Days'  Speeches  by  the  Doomed  Men — Their  Reason  Why  the  Law- 
Should  Not  be  Executed 150 

Chapter  X. 
MISCELLANEOUS  MATTER. 
Afbriter  Zeitung — Mrs.  Parsons  —  Her  Arrest  in  Ohio — Her  Arrest  in  Chicago  — 


CONTENTS. 


Heir  Most  Endorsing  the  Bomb-Throwing — The  Panic  He  Could  Create  in 
a  Big  City  in  Thirty  Minutes  With  3,000  Bombs  in  the  Hands  of  500  Revo- 
lutionists      181 

Chapter   XI. 
SUPERSEDEAS  GRANTED. 

United  States  Supreme  Court  Sustain  Original  Verdict— Parsons'  Letter  to  Gov- 
ernor Oglesbv — Lingg  Defiant— Refusing  to  Sign  a  Petition  for  Executive 
Clemency— Their  Impertinent  Letters  to  the  Governor i3a 

Chapter   XII. 
FIELDEN  PENITENT. 

His  Letter  to  the  Governor — Spies'  Last  Letter  to  His  Excellency  —  Willing  to 

Die  for  His  Comrades 219 

Chapter  XIII. 
LINGG   SUICIDES. 

Dr.  Bolton  With  the  Prisoners— They  Decline  Spiritual  Comfort— The  Last 
Night  of  the  Doomed  Men — Parsons  Sings  in  His  Cell — Telegrams  for 
Parsons — His  Last  Letter 223 

Chapter  XIV. 
DESCRIPTION    OF   THE    EXECUTION. 

Threatening  Letters  —  Pitying  Justice  —  Outraged  Law  Vindicated  —  Mercy  to 
the  Guilty  is  Cruelty  to  the  Innocent — The  Unchanged,  Everlasting  Will  to 
Give  Each  Man  His  Right— Abuse  of  Free  Speech— "The  Mills  of  God 
Grind  Slow,  But  Exceedingly  Fine  " — Captain  Black  at  the  Anarchists' 
Funeral 231 

Chapter  XV. 
A    DESCRIPTION    OF   HERR    MOST'S   SANCTUM. 

A  Den  Where  Anarchy  Was  Begotten — The  Anarchist  Chief's  Museum  of 
Weapons  and  Infernal  Machines  —  Easy  Lessons  in  the  Art  of  Assassi- 
nation     240 

Chapter  XVI. 
BIOGRAPHY    OF   HERR    MOST. 
His  Past  Career  and  Early  Training — His  Imprisonment  in  the  Bastile  and  Red 


CONTENTS. 


Tower  for  Preaching  His  Gospel  of  Blood— Extracts  From  His  Inflamma- 
tory Utterances— "Whet  Your  Daggers"— "Let  Every  Prince  Find  a  Brutus 
by  His  Throne." 246 

Chapter  XVII. 

BIOGRAPHY    OF   SPIES, 

And  the  Other  Seven  Condemned  Men— Their  Birthplace,  Education,  and  Pri- 
vate Life— Parsons'  Letter  to  the  Daily  News,  After  the  Explosion,  While  a 
Fugitive  From  Justice 25* 

Chapter  XVIII. 
BIOGRAPHICAL    RECORD    OF  JOHN    BONFIELD, 
Inspector  and  Secretary  of  Police  Department — Biographies  of  Sheriff  Matson, 

Judge  Gary,  Judge  Grinnell  —  Tribute  to  Captain  Schaack 259 

Chapter  XIX. 

EULOGY    TO    THE    POLICE. 

Boldly  They  Fought  and  Well  —  Contrast  Between  Capital  and  Labor  —  The 

Anarchists'  Fatal  Delusion — The  United  States  National  Anthem 264 


PREFACE. 


In  view  of  the  many  phases  and  complications  involved  in 
the  labor  question,  along  with  the  cosmopolitan  element  engaged 
in  forcing,  as  it  were,  measures  intended  to  revolutionize  labor, 
trade  and  commerce,  this  subject  becomes  of  extreme  delicacy 
to  treat,  the  intricacy  of  which  affect  all  classes  and  conditions 
of  men,  and  threatens  to  convulse  society  from  the  outer  crust 
of  uppertendom  to  the  inner  sub-strata  of  human  interest,  affect- 
ing largely  the  social,  civil,  and  political  interests  of  the  ever- 
enlarging  generations  of  mankind. 

The  dark  cloud  standing  out  in  bold  relief  outlined  against 
the  political  horizon  of  this  great  republic  seems  to  be  gather- 
ing in  intensity.  Just  now  the  lull  in  matters  pertaining  to 
this  great  question  of  CAPITAL  and  LABOR,  seem  like  the 
"calm  that  precedes  the  hurricane.11  Animosities  and  antagonisms 
are  widening  the  gulf  between  these  conflicting  interests  of 
society,  and  anarchy  and  socialism,  assuming  a  belligerent  at- 
titude, threaten  a  disruption  of  good  and  wholesome  government. 

We  bid  a  hearty  God-speed  to  any  innovation  upon  the  ster- 
eotyped and  superannuated  system,  or  dogmatic  usage  in  the 
interests  of  absolute  and  overwhelming  monopolies,  which  has 
for  its  object  the  general  well-being  of  our  common  humanity, 
the  elevation  of  the  universal  brotherhood  of  mankind,  and  the 
perpetuity  of  American  institutions. 

We  do  not  believe  in  monopoly  and  oppression  ;  but  the 
final  triumph  of  right  over  wrong  by  honest,  earnest  and  perse- 
vering endeavor. 


ft '       »>J> 


SOCIALISM. 


A  theory  of  society  which  advocates  a  more  precise, 
orderly  and  harmonious  arrangement  of  the  social  relations 
of  mankind  than  that  which  has  hitherto  prevailed, —  Webster. 

COMMUNISM. 


The  reorganizing  of  society,  or  the  doctrine  that  it  should 
be  reorganized,  by  regulating  property,  industry  and  the  means 
of  livelihood,  and  also  the  domestic  relations  and  social  morals 
of  mankind;  socialism;  especially  the  doctrine  of  a  community 
of  property,  or  the  negative  of  individual  right  in  property. — 
J.  H.  Burton. 

ANARCHY. 


Want  of  government ,  the  state  of  society  where  there  is  no 
law  or  supreme  power,  or  where  the  laws  are  not  efficient, 
and  individuals  do  what  they  please  with  impunity. —  Webster. 


m>«         ^^> 


INTEODTJCTIOK 


Never  before,  perhaps,  in  the  history  of  any  great  nation,  was 
there  a  time  when  wise,  honest  and  unswerving  men  were 
necessary  at  the  helm  of  the  great  social  and  political  ship  of 
American  freedom  than  at  the  present  time,  in  order  that  she 
may  weather  the  blasts,  pass  in  safety  the  dangerous  reefs  and 
shoals  of  any  party  politics,  maintain  the  majesty  of  her  laws, 
grow  strong  in  truth,  making  aggressive  warfare  upon  error 
and  superstition,  "  and  having  done  all  to  stand  entire  at  last," 
"  with  her  lamps  trimmed  and  burning,"  her  liberty  enlighten- 
ing the  world. 

One  of  our  great  minds  has  said  :  "  Our  country,  though 
rich  in  men  of  faithfulness  and  power,  and  having  escaped  from 
the  difficulties  of  earlier  times,  perceives  new  questions  which 
demand  whatever  of  counsel  the  wise  and  thoughtful  can  give," 
for  an  era  so  active  in  thought  and  impulse  is  always  perilous 
to  the  nation  and  need  strong  men,  wise  and  calm  in  the  midst 
of  her  greatest  storms.  Many  of  our  nation's  noblest  sons 
within  a  short  space  of  time  have  bowed  in  obedience  to  the 
behest  of  that  monarch  whose  summons  all  must  obey.  In  our 
minds  we  go  back  to  that  period  when  our  country  was  young, 
and  behold  manly  forms,  marked  by  intellectual  dignity,  and 
bearing  in  their  countenance  the  unmistakable  insignia  of  true 
and  noble  manhood.  They,  too,  have  passed  away,  and  home 
and  sanctuary  know  them  no  more ;  but  the  light  found  in  such 


10  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

characters  assist  in  solving  the  difficult  problems  of  today.    Our 
nation's   God    can    make    of  a   poor  and   humble   craftsman  a 
mighty  statesman.     Many  such  lives  are  poured  full  of  honors, 
and  their  graves  are  fresh  and  green  in  our  memories.    Nothing 
can  equal    in    grandeur   the    interminable    extent  of   our  vast 
prairies,  covered  with  blossoming  buds.    Every  lover  of  nature, 
and  home  and  country  can  daily  hear  a  grand  anthem  of  praise 
ascend  to  God  for  the  munificence  of  his  unspeakable  gifts. 
"  From  that  cathedral  boundless  as  our  wonder 
Whose  quenchless  lamps  the  sun  and  moon  supply." 
These  pastoral  symphonies  are  dear  to  all  our  hearts.     We 
love  our  country,  and  gazing  upon  our  glorious  flag,  we  feel  it 

means  to 

"  Friends  a  starry  sky" 
But  to  foes 

"  A  storm  in  every  fold" 

Untarnished  its  honor,  and  the  undimmed  radiance  stream- 
ing down  from  every  star  upon  our  glorious  banner  for  over  one 
hundred  years,  what  usurper  dare  insult  her  national  prowess 
and  trail  her  honors  in  the  dust,  or  flaunt  the  red  flag  of 
anarchy  and  socialism  in  the  face  of  our  national  greatness? 

Anarchy  cannot  prevail,  as  "  order  is  heaven's  first  law,"  and 
"eternal  vigilance  the  price  of  liberty.1' 

Our  measureless  prosperity  as  a  nation  have  caused  to  seek 
employment,  protection  and  a  home  beneath  the  ample  folds  of 
our  grand  old  flag,  many  representatives  from  almost  every 
nation  under  the  sun,  to  whom  have  been  extended  all  the 
rights,  social,  civil,  religious  and  political,  of  free-born  Ameri- 
can citizenship,  while  obedient  to  its  laws.  We  who  seek  this 
country  as  our  home,  because  of  its  advantages  and  the  superior 


RISE  AND  FALL   OF  ANARCHY.  n 

facilities  for  obtaining  a  livelihood  or  of  amassing  wealth,  can 
be  guilty  of  no  baser  act  than  to  endeavor  to  sow  the  seeds  of 
discord  and  confusion  among  the  peaceful  and  well-organized 
brotherhood  in  this  land  of  freedom  and  prosperity ;  and  all 
violations  of  good  and  wholesome  law,  endangering  the  peace 
and  prosperity  of  citizens,  or  the  overthrow  of  our  national 
institutions,  are  deserving  of  the  nation's  frown. 

What  greater  insult  can  be  offered  to  the  children  of  free- 
dom than  for  people  of  foreign  birth  to  usurp  the  birthrights 
and  trample  upon  the  institutions  for  which  their  fathers  bled 
and  died  ? 

Never  before  were  citizens  of  any  country  placed  on  trial  for 
so  grave  and  flagrant  a  transgression,  who  received  such  consid- 
eration and  fairness  at  the  hands  of  the  administrators  of  law 
and  justice  as  did  the  participants  in  the  Haymarket  tragedy. 

In  view  of  the  deep  turpitude  of  their  crime  great  credit  is 
due  to  all  the  standard  papers  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  and  the 
Press  of  the  United  States,  for  the  fair  and  impartial  manner 
in  which  they  represented  the  Anarchists'  case  during  the  trial 
and  pending  the  execution.  The  articles  appearing  from  time 
to  time  in  their  columns  seemed  ever  tempered  with  mercy. 
Yet  firmness  characterized  all  their  expressed  opinions.  The 
institutions  of  our  country  are  dear  to  every  true  and  loyal 
American. 

The  outrage  perpetrated  upon  our  high  order  of  civilization 
called  for  life  in  exchange  for  the  lives  sacrificed  by  the  tragic 
events  of  the  night  of  May  the  4th,  1886.  Every  right-think- 
ing journalist  acknowledged  the  justice  of  the  sentence  and 
said,  so  let  it  be;  believing  that  when  "judgment  and  justice 
are  abroad  in  the  land  the  people  will  learn  righteousness." 


12  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Anarchists— Their  Nationality — The  First  Agitation — 
Leaders — Anarchy — The  "Revenge"  Circular — The 
Haymarkkt  Meeting — The  Massacre. 

Scarcely  lias  the  chronicler  of  time  recorded  fifty  years  in  the 
eventful  history  of  Chicago  since  it  was  known  only  as  a  little 
trading  post  for  the  Indians  of  the  west  and  northwest,  but  be- 
ing  the  central  and  distributing  point  for  the  interminable 
fertile  territories  stretching  away  toward  the  land  of  the  setting 
sun,  its  progress  in  wealth  and  population  has  been  unprece- 
dented. The  superior  facilities  for  obtaining  supplies,  and  the 
demand  for  implements  for  agricultural  purposes,  have  conspired 
to  render  Chicago  one  of  the  most  important  commercial  cities 
on  the  globe.  And  to-day  it  stands  the  grainery  of  the  Anieri. 
can  Continent,  the  great  repository  and  commercial  reservoir  of 
continental  America,  with  a  cosmopolitan  population  of  over 
seven  hundred  thousand.  Capitalists  engaged  in  mammoth 
manufacturing  enterprises  like  McCormick  and  others,  in  order 
to  secure  cheap  labor  to  the  exclusion  of  native  skilled  work- 
men, have  imported  to  this  country  thousands  of  foreigners  who, 
after  gaining  a  foothold  in  the  land,  have  turned  upon  their  em- 
ployers in  organized  bands  with  measures  intended  to  be  revo- 
lutionary. 

The  troublesome  element  consisted  largely  of  the  ignorant 
lower  classes  of  Bavarians,  Bohemians,  Hungarians,  Germans, 
Austrians,  and  others  who  held  secret  meetings  in  organized 
groups  armed  and  equipped  like  the  nihilists  of  Russia,  and  the 
communists  of  France. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  Li 

They  called  themselves  socialists.  Their  emblem  was  red. 
They  paraded  the  streets  of  Chicago  without  let  or  hindrance 
in  1878,  carrying  a  red  flag  and  making  insulting  and  incendiary 
speeches  at  Lake  front  park,  and  at  several  of  the  public  halls 
of  the  city. 

This  free  country  accorded  to  them  without  regard  to  birth 
or  nationality  the  rights  of  freedom  of  speech,  and  we  shall 
see  how  that  indulgence  beyond  the  bounds  of  propriety  has 
been  abused.  In  1877  they  held  secret  meetings  to  organize 
their  forces,  and  during  the  same  year  there  were  several  labor 
riots. 

In  1879  anarchists  and  socialists  united  to  endeavor  to  secure 
by  their  votes  and  influence  as  mayor  Dr.  Ernst  Schmidt,  and 
as  city  treasurer  F.  Stauber.  Polling  nearly  10,000  votes  they 
secured  several  representatives  in  the  city  council. 

On  the  evening  of  the  2d  of  July,  1879,  Captain  Bielfeld, 
with  ten  of  the  gang  known  as  the  Lehr  and  Werh  Verein,  left 
Turner  Hall,  marching  from  Twelfth  to  Union,  then  returning, 
Lieut.  Callahan  secured  their  arrest.  As  a  test  case  for  a  viola- 
tion of  the  law  relative  to  the  militia,  Bielfeld  alone  was  booked 
to  appear  before  the  police  court  on  the  3d  of  July,  18.9. 
Rubens,  his  attorney,  gave  bonds  for  his  appearance.  The  de- 
fendant then  took  a  change  of  venue  to  Morrison,  becoming  his 
own  bail  to  appear  at  that  place  in  the  afternoon.  Bielfeld, 
with  his  attorney,  and  prosecuting  attorney  Cameron,  were  present. 
The  case  was  continued  for  one  week.  The  following  day 
being  the  Fourth  of  July,  was  looked  forward  to  with  solici- 
tude as  a  day  when  Chicago  might  expect  riot  and  carnage.  Biel- 
feld had  been  bound  in  $300  bonds  but  was  released  on  habeas 
corpus  the  same  day  on  an  application   to  Judge  Barnum,  who 


14  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

pronounced  the  majority  of  the    clauses  in    the  militia   law  as 
unconstitutional. 

In  November,  187V>,  a  similar  case  was  argued  before  the 
supreme  court  which  in  its  rulings  sustained  the  constitution- 
ality of  the  militia  law  in  direct  opposition  to  Judge  Barnum's 
rulings  and  opinions.  This  opinion  was  a  leversing  of  Judge 
Barnum's  decision  restricting  armed  bodies  of  socialists,  anarch- 
ists, or  communists  from  parading  the  streets,  deciding  that  in 
matters  pertaining  to  the  peace  and  safety  of  citizens  the  police 
powers  are  plenary. 

In  the  autumn  of  1879  the  Bohemian  anarchistic  agitators 
held  a  picnic  at  Silver  Leaf  Grove,  in  the  vicinity  of  Douglas 
Park,  and  being  annoyed  by  uninvited  guests,  at  the  command 
of  their  captain,  Prokop  Iludek,  they  fired  a  round  of  ball  car- 
tridge into  the  promiscuous  crowd,  seriously  wounding  quite  a 
large  number  of  citizens.  Their  captain,  and  the  entire  com- 
pany of  would-be  assassins,  were  arrested  and  brought  to  the 
corner  of  Madison  and  Union  streets,  where  the  police  were 
compelled  to  use  their  utmost  efforts  to  prevent  the  enraged  and 
outraged  citizens  from  lynching  the  leaders  of  the  gang  of  out- 
laws. The  peace-loving  and  law-abiding  citizens  were  so  exasper- 
ated at  the  audacity  and  cupidity  of  the  uncivilized  horde  that 
it  was  with  dimculty  the  police  induced  them  to  disperse  with- 
out wreaking  a  summary  vengeance  upon  these  organized  bad- 
dits,  who  were  beginning  to  operate  with  impunity  in  the  very 
midst  of  the  highest  order  of  civilization  and  refinement. 

The  United  States  Supreme  Court  acknowledge  and  defend 
the  right  of  citizens  to  assemble,  without  arms,  when  the  object 
is  to  make  known,  in  proper  language,  any  grievance.  But  they 
must  in  all  cases  be  under  the  control,  direction  and  protection 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY 


15 


of  the  police  force.  But  all  meetings  to  organize,  or  any  organ 
ized  gatherings  for  the  purpose  of  subverting  law  and  order,  all 
armed  mobs  making  incendiary  speeches  or  advocating  violence 
are  subject  to  military  law,  and  under  the  control  of  the  police, 
as  the  guardians  of  the  public  peace. 

From  the  time  of  the  arrest  of  Herman  jPresser,  on  the  affirm- 
ation of  the  militia  law,  by  the  Federal  Court,  in  188K,  all  armed 
demonstrations  of  the  socialistic  element  from  this  time  ceased, 
but  in  secret  they  matured  their  fiendish  plottings  against  the 
law-abiding  citizens  and  safety  of  American  institutions,  becom- 
ing skilled  in  the  manufacture  and  use  of  dynamite  bombs  as  a 
weapon  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  life  and  property,  and  the 
intimidation  of  the  officers  of  law  and  justice. 

The  leaders  of  anarchy  and  socialism  with  whom  we  have 
to  do,  more  particularly  in  this  volume,  are  viz.:  August  Spies, 
Samuel  Fielden  and  A.  R.  Parsons,  Spies  being  the  editor  of 
the  Arbeiter  Zeitung,  and  A.  R.  Parsons  editor  of  the  paper 
known  as  the  Alarm. 

The  eight  hour  system  of  labor  had  been  agitated  for  some 
time,  and  the  first  of  May,  1886,  was  the  time  set  for  it  to  go 
into  effect  by  all  the  trade  and  labor  unions.  It  was  suspected 
by  many  that  the  insubordinate  element  of  socialists  and  anarch- 
ists would  take  advantage  of  the  already  fermented  state  of  the 
working  classes,  to  make  a  bold  stand  to  revolutionize  and  de- 
moralize, by  their  treasonable  and  inflammatory  speeches,  the 
otherwise  peaceful  and  respectable  citizens  of  Chicago.  The 
McCormick  reaper  works,  with  over  one  thousand  employes, 
mostly  foreigners,  had  been  out  on  a  strike  for  several  weeks, 
and  being  at  fever  heat  the  anarchists  sought  to  produce  a  riot 
among  these  turbulent  men,  who  only  needed  a  leader  and  some 


16  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

encouragement,  which  they  were  soon  to  receive  from  Spies. 
On  May  2d  a  large  force  collected  at  or  near  the  junction  of 
Eighteenth  street  and  Centre  avenue.  Here  they  reversed  the 
American  flag,  carrying  it  top  side  down,  symbolic  of  the  revo- 
lution they  intended  to  work  in  American  institutions.  They 
marched  down  the  Black  Road  to  the  prairie  in  front  of  McCor- 
mickV  works,  where  August  Spies  addressed  them  in  extrava- 
gant language,  exciting  the  mob  by  a  seditious  and  inflammatory 
speech,  at  the  close  of  which  the  effect  was  plainly  visible,  as 
the  mob  at  once  attacked  the  works  of  McCormick,  demolishing 
a  portion  of  it,  and  seriously  injuring  several  non-union  men  who 
were  employed  there.  The  six  police  there  on  duty  bravely 
tried  to  hold  the  fort,  but  were  forced  to  give  way  before  nearly 
three  thousand  infuriated  men,  when  they  turned  in  a  call  for 
assistance,  and  were  reinforced  by  the  arrival  of  thirty  more 
officers,  who  bravely  beat  back  their  assaiiants,  killing  one  of 
the  mob  by  a  shot  from  a  revolver,  and  wounding  several  others, 
The  repulsed  mob  then  retreated,  and  their  leaders  repaired  to 
office  <>!'  the  Zeitunq  t<»  prepare  a  circular,  and  printed  it  in  Ger- 
man and  English,  which  was  headed  Revenge,  and  the  English 
copy  read  as  follows,  which  they  circulated  throughout  the  city: 

REVENGE. 

"  Revenge,  working  men  !  to  arms  !  Your  masters  sent  out 
then-  bloodhounds— the  police.  They  killed  six  of  your  brothers 
at  McCormick's  this  afternoon.  They  killed  the  poor  wretches, 
because  they,  like  you,  had  the  courage  to  disobey  the  supreme 
will  of  your  bosses.  They  killed  them  because  they  dared  ask 
for  the  shortening  of  the  hours  of  toil.  They  killed  them  to 
show  you,  'free  American  citizens,' that  you  must  be  satisfied 
and  contented  with  whatever  your  bosses  condescend  to  allow 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  17 

you,  or  you'll  get  killed.  You  have  for  years  endured  the  most 
abject  humiliation;  you  have  for  years  suffered  immeasurable 
iniquities ;  you  have  worked  yourselves  to  death ;  you  have  en- 
dured the  pangs  of  want  and  hunger ;  your  children  you  have 
sacrificed  to  the  factory  lords — in  short,  you  have  been  miser- 
able, obedient  slaves  all  these  years.  Why  ?  To  satisfy  the 
insatiable  greed  to  fill  the  coifers  of  your  lazy,  thieving  master. 
When  you  ask  them  now  to  lessen  your  burden  he  sends  his 
blood-hounds  out  to  shoot  you,  kill  you.  If  you  are  men,  if  you 
are  the  sons  of  your  grandsires  who  have  shed  their  blood  to 
free  you,  then  you  will  rise  in  your  might,  Hercules,  and  destroy 
the  hideous  monster  that  seeks  to  destroy  you.  To  arms  we  call 
you !     To  arms  !  Your  Brothers." 

The  German  portion  difiered  from  the  above  mainly  in  the 
following  passage  :  "  Why  ?  Because  you  dared  ask  for  the 
shortening  of  the  hours  of  labor."  In  the  German  copy  it  ran  : 
M  Because  you  dared  ask  for  all  that  you  believed  to  be  your 
rights."  Instead  of  being  addressed,  as  in  the  English,  to  Amer- 
ican citizens,  it  was  directed  to  the  followers  of  anarchy  and 
socialism. 

Another  circular  was  distributed  calling  a  meeting  at  the 
Haymarket  for  the  night  of  May  4,  and  urging  workingmen  to 
arm  and  go  in  full  force.  In  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  appeared  the 
letter  "Y,"  meaning  Ypsilon,  which  was  the  signal  for  the 
armed  anarchists  to  turn  out,  and  in  the  department  of  the 
paper  known  as  the  "  Letter-Box  "  the  word  '•  Ruhe,"  signifying 
that  the  time  for  revolution  was  at  hand. 

There  were  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  anarchists  carry- 
ing concealed  weapons  at  the  Haymarkst  massacre  on  the  4th  of 
May,  1886,  and  probably  about  fifteen  hundred  present  in  all 
at  the  time  of  the  explosion.     A.  R.  Parsons  had  delivered  his 


18  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

speech  and  Samuel  Fielden  was  portraying  to  the  sympathizing 
crowd,  with  all  the  eloquence  he  could  command,  the  wide  and 
yawning  uubridged  gulf  between  capital  and  labor,  when  seven 
companies  of  police,  numbering  nearly  two  hundred  men,  under 
command  of  their  superior  officers,  swooped  down  upon  the  law- 
less mob.  Captain  Ward,  in  clear  and  ringing  tones,  commanded 
these  land  pirates  to  quietly  disperse,  when  from  an  alley  con- 
tiguous was  seen  in  the  darkness  a  little  line  of  fire  passing 
directly  over  the  heads  of  the  motly  crowd.  The  hissing  fiend, 
hurled  by  some  practiced  hand  to  perform  its  hellish  mission, 
fell  directly  between  two  of  the  ranks  of  our  brave  and  noble 
officers,  and  exploded  with  a  detonation  which  seemed  to  shake 
the  city  from  center  to  circumference,  dealing  death  to  several 
brave  and  noble  officers,  while  the  wounded  and  dying  num- 
bered over  sixty,  who  a  moment  before  were  in  the  best  of  spir- 
its and  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty  as  protectors  of  public 
peace,  were  stricken  down  without  a  moment's  warning.  But 
was  there  a  man  dismayed,  although  the  groans  of  the  wounded 
and  mangled  victims  could  be  heard  in  every  direction,  not 
knowing  but  the  next  instant  another  explosion  would  strew  the 
ground  with  fresh  victims  from  their  ranks  ?  Scarcely  had  the 
sound  of  the  explosion  died  away  in  the  echoing  distance,  or  the 
smoke  from  the  fatal  bomb  rose  up  to  be  lost  in  the  dark  and 
murky  clouds,  ere  the  spirit  of  patriotism  rose  up  in  their  hearts, 
inspiring  them  to  deeds  of  noble  daring,  when  they  boldly 
charged  in  a  solid  column  this  band  of  treacherous  outlaws. 
Captain  Bonfield  seized  a  revolver  from  the  hand  of  a  fallen 
officer,  at  the  same  time  drawing  his  own  revolver,  and  from 
both  hands  he  rained  a  shower  of  lead  into  the  ranks  of  the 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  19 

enemy.  Under  this  aggressive  movement  the  anarchists  began 
beating  a  hasty  retreat. 

The  wounded  officers  were  removed  to  the  County  Hospital, 
while  a  large  detachment  were  kept  busy  during  the  night  car- 
ing for  the  dead  and  dying.  The  exact  number  of  killed  and 
wounded  among  the  anarchists  could  not  be  ascertained,  as 
they  were  removed  from  the  ensanguined  field  immediately  by 
their  friends  to  places  of  safety,  and  medical  assistance  secured 
for  them  from  among  the  socialistic  fraternity. 

On  the  5th  of  May,  Rudolph  Schnaubelt  was  arrested  on 
suspicion  that  he  was  an  important  factor  in  the  conspiracy.  On 
an  investigation  which  followed,  he  very  adroitly  managed  to 
impress  the  authorities  of  his  innocence,  when  he  was  dis- 
charged, and  he  at  once  disappeared  from  the  city ;  but  during 
the  progress  of  the  trial,  evidence  was  obtained  which  proves 
almost  conclusively  that  Rudolph  Schnaubelt  was  the  arch  fiend 
who  hurled  the  deadly  bomb  causing  so  many  brave  officers  to 
bite  the  dust  without  a  moment's  warning. 


20 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 


CHAPTER  III. 


This  great  and  unprecedented  anarchistic  conspiracy  of  May 
4th  will  doubtless  result  in  a  blessing  to  America.  First,  it 
will  teach  the  administrators  of  law  and  justice  the  necessity  of 
being  watchful  of  this  treacherous  element  in  society  which 
would  thus  ruthlessly  violate  every  sacred  principle  of  right  and 
honor, 

The  bravery  of  the  police  on  that  eventful  night  of  May 
■4th  is  worthy  of  note  in  the  history  of  Chicago,  and  those  who 
fell  in  the  defence  of  our  birthrights  as  American  citizens  have 
builded  a  monument  in  the  hearts  of  a  grateful  people  that  shall 
endure  while  the  star-spangled  banner  shall  continue  to  wave 
"O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  the  brave."  Were 
we  to  disturb,  disquiet,  and  bring  up  from  their  tombs  the  most 
hideous  monsters  from  the  dead  of  the  dark  and  superstitious 
ages  of  the  gloomy  past,  their  hands  deep  purple  with  the  blood 
of  their  murdered  fellow  men,  we  should  fail  to  find  a  parallel 
that  would  compare  with  this  unscrupulous  cold-blooded  mas- 
sacre, along  with  the  bold  attempt  at  the  subversion  of  law. 

On  the  fifth  of  the  month  eight  of  the  leaders  of  anarchy 
were  arrested  and  indicted  for  murder  and  conspiracy.  The 
police  raided  the  office  of  the  Arbeiter  Ztitungy  the  organ  of  the 
socialistic  and  anarchistic  labor  agitators,  obtaining  quantities 
of  dynamite  bombs,  flags,  and  inflamatory  literature  which  was 
« 'Dried  in  the  trial  as  corroborative  evidence.  August  Spies, 
a  German,  was  the  editor  of  the  Zeitmmg  and  a  ringleader  of  the 
anarchists.  A.  R  Parsons,  an  American,  was  editor  of  the 
Alarm.  Samuel  Fielden,  of  English  nationality,  laborer. 
Oscar   Neebe,  German.     Adolph  Fischer,  a  German.     Louis 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  21 

Ling,  a  German,  carpenter.  George  Engle,  German,  and 
Michal  Schwab.  These  are  the  ones  who  were  indicted  for 
murder  and  anarchy.  A.  R.  Parsons  iled  the  night  of  the  riot 
and  consequently  was  not  arrested,  but  he  subsequently  came 
in  and  gave  himself  up  to  the  officials  in  the  criminal  court, 
doubtless  thinking  by  this  semblance  of  honor  to  impress  the 
court  of  his  innocence  and  thereby  secure  acquittal. 

The  attorneys  for  the  State  in  the  prosecution  were  as  fol- 
lows :  Julius  S.  Grinnell ;  and  assistants  State,  George  Ingham 
and  Frank  Walker. 

Col.  W.  P.  Black,  Solomon  Zeisler,  and  Mr.  Foster,  of  Iowa, 
were  for  the  defence,  who  availed  themselves  of  every  techni- 
cality in  the  interests  of  their  clients.  Four  long  and  tedious 
weeks  were  consumed  in  obtaining  a  jury,  exhausting  fourteen 
panels  of  jurors  in  securing  twelve  competent  men  to  try  this 
case.     His  Honor,  Judge  J.  E.  Gary,  presiding. 

The  names  of  the  jury  accepted  by  the  State  and  the  defence 
were  Major  J.  H.  Cole,  F.  E.  Osborne,  S.  G.  Randall,  A.  II. 
Reed,  J.  H.  Bruyton,  A.  Hamilton,  G.  W.  Adams,  J.  B.  Greiner, 
C.  B.  Todd,  C.  A.  Ludwig,  T.  E.  Denker,  and  H.  T.  Sanford. 

An  application  was  filed  with  State's  Attorney  Grinnell  for 
a  separate  trial  in  the  case  of  Neebe,  Spies,  Schwab,  and  Fielden, 
but  was  overruled  by  his  Honor,  Judge  Gary,  as  they  had  been 
jointly  indicted  for  conspiracy  and  murder. 

On  Friday,  July  10th,  1886,  the  case  of  the  anarchists  was 
opened  by  the  prosecution  in  the  taking  of  evidence. 

Officers  Steel,  Barber,  Reed  and  McMahon,  who  were 
wounded  in  the  riot  of  May  the  4th,  were  so  far  recovered  as  to 
be  able  to  be  present. 

Felix  Puschek  was  sworn  and  submitted  plans  of  the  Hay- 


22  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

market  and  several  halls  in  the  city  known  to  be  headquarters 
for  the  meetings  of  the  anarchists 

Police  Inspector  Bonfield  next  took  the  stand  and  related 
how  the  police  attempted  to  disperse  the  unlawful  assemblage 
of  armed  Anarchists,  and  detailed  the  circumstance  of  the 
bomb-throwing,  already  related.  He  also  identified  the  follow- 
ing circular,  by  which  the  meeting  was  called  : 

"Attention,  working  men?  Great  mass-meeting  to-night,  at 
7  o'clock,  Haymarket  square,  between  Desplaines  and  Halsted. 
Good  speakers  will  be  present  to  denounce  the  late  atrocious 
act  of  the  police,  the  shooting  of  our  fellow  working  men  yes* 
terday  afternoon.     Working  men,  arm  and  appear  in  full  force. 

"The  Committee." 

Some  of  the  anarchist's  indicted  for  conspiracy  turned  State's 
evidence.  Gottfried  Waller,  a  Swiss  by  nationality,  a  cabinet- 
maker by  trade,  formerly  a  socialist,  and  a  member  of  the  Lehr 
and  Wehr  Verein,  testified  that  the  latter  organization  com- 
prised various  armed  groups  of  anarchists  ;  that  the  letter  "Y" 
in  tin-  Arbt  if'  r  Zi  itung  meant  for  the  armed  section  to  meet  at 
Griefs  hall  ;  that  he  acted  as  chairman  of  the  meeting  of  seveuty 
or  eighty  persons,  Engel,  Fischer  and  Breitenfeld,  the  comman- 
der of  the  Lehr  and  Wehr,  being  present.  The  witness  testi- 
fied that  Engel  unfolded  a  plan  whereby  if  a  collision  between 
the  strikers  and  the  police  should  occur,  the  word  "  Ruhe " 
would  appear  in  the  Arbeiter  as  a  signal  for  the  Lehr  and  Wehr 
and  the  Northwest  group  of  anarchists  to  assemble  in  Wicker 
Park  with  arms.  They  should  then  storm  the  Noith  avenue 
police  station,  and  proceed  thence  to  other  stations,  using  dyna- 
mite and  shooting  down  all  who  opposed  them,  and  should  cut 
the  telegraph  wires  to  prevent  communication  with  the  outside 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  23 

world.  Engel  said  the  best  way  to  begin  would  be  to  throw  a 
dynamite  bomb  into  the  police  station,  and  that  when  the  pop- 
ulace saw  that  the  police  were  overpowered,  tumult  would 
spread  through  the  city,  and  the  anarchists  would  be  joined  by 
the  working  men.  This  plan,  Engel  said,  had  been  adopted  by 
the  Northwest  group.  It  was  decided  to  appoint  a  committee 
to  keep  watch  of  affairs  in  the  city  and  to  call  a  meeting  for  the 
next  night  in  the  Haymarket.  Fischer  was  directed  to  get  the 
handbills  calling  the  meeting  printed.  Those  present  at  the  pre- 
liminary meeting  represented  various  groups  throughout  the 
city  Fischer  announced  that  the  word  "  Kuhe  "  would  mean 
that  a  revolution  had  been  started.  Engel  put  the  motion,  and 
the  plan  was  adopted.  The  committee  on  action  was  composed 
of  members  from  each  group;  the  witness  knew  only  one — 
Kraemer.  The  members  of  the  armed  groups  were  known  by 
numbers,  and  witness  number  was  1 9. ' 

Spies  was  questioned  in  January,  1885,  at  Grand  Rapids, 
Mich.,  relative  to  these  secret  organizations,  when  he  said  that 
force  must  bring  about  the  necessary  reform  which  the  ballot- 
box  had  failed  to  inaugurate  and  was  incompetent  to  perforin. 
Shook,  of  Grand  Rapids,  also  testified  that  Spies  had  said  that 
the  secret  drilled  organizations  of  Chicago  for  the  revolution  of 
society  numbered  over  3,000,  and  that  none  except  members  of 
those  organizations  knew  of  the  modus  operandi  by  which  they 
intended  to  wage  their  warfare. 

Lieutenant  Bowler  testified  to  seeing  men  in  the  crowd  fire 
upon  the  police  with  revolvers ;  officers  S.  C.  Bohner  and  E.  J. 
Hawley  saw  Fielden  fire.  In  the  line  of  proving  up  the  conspir- 
acy to  incite  the  workingmen  to  violence,  it  was  shown  by  the 
evidence  of  James  L-  Frazer,  E.  T.  Baker,  A.  S.  Leckie  Frank 


04  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

Haraster,  Sergeant  John  Enright  and  officer  L.  H.  McShane, 
that  Spies  and  Fielden  incited  the  mob  to  attack  McCorniick's 
Reaper  Works  and  the  non-union  employes  on  May  3.  Detec- 
tive Reuben  Slayton  testified  to  having  arrested  Fischer  at  the 
Arbi  lt<  r  Zeitung  office.  He  had  a  loaded  revolver  hid  under  his 
coat ;  a  file-grooved  dagger  and  a  fulminating  cap,  used  to 
explode  dynamite  bombs.  Theodore  Fricke,  former  business 
manager  of  the  Arbeiter,  identified  the  copy  of  the  "  Revenge  " 
circular  as  being  in  Spies'  handwriting.  Lieutenant  William 
Ward  testified  to  having  commanded  the  Haymarket  meeting  to 
disperse  in  the  name  of  the  people  of  Illinois,  and  that  Fielden 
cried,  "  We  are  peaceable,"  laying  a  slight  emphasis  on  the  last 
word. 

William  Seliger,  of  442  Sedgwick  street,  testified  that  Louis 
Lingg  boarded  with  him,  and  that  himself,  Lingg,  Huebner, 
Maiizenberg  and  Hewmann  worked  at  making  dynamite  bombs 
of  a  spherical  shape.  He  attended  the  various  meetings.  He 
identified  the  calls  for  the  armed  sections  to  meet  in  the  Arbeiter 
Zeitwng.  Baltkasar  Rau  brought  the  "Revenge"  circular  to 
Zephf s  hall.  Lingg  worked  at  first  on  "gas  pipe"  bombs ;  they 
made  forty  or  fifty  bombs  the  Tuesday  before  the  riot.  Lingg 
said  they  were  to  be  used  that  evening ;  he  and  Lingg  carried 
a  small  trunk  full  of  the  bombs  to  NefFs  hall,  58  Clybourne 
avenue,  that  evening,  where  they  were  divided  up  among  the 
anarchists  ;  besides  the  Northwest  group  the  Sachsen  Bund  met 
at  NefFs  hall ;  witness,  Lingg,  Thieben  and  Gustave  Lehmen  and 
two  others  from  the  Lehr  and  Wehr  Verein,  left  NefFs  hall  for 
the  Larrabee  street  police  station  ;  Lingg  said  a  disturbance  must 
be  made  on  the  North  side  to  prevent  the  police  from  going  to 
the  West  side ;  Lingg  wanted  to  throw  a  bomb  into  the  station"; 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  25 

the  police  were  outside,  and  they  could  not  get  near ;  the  patrol 
wagon  came  along  completely  manned,  and  Lingg  wanted  to 
throw  a  bomb  under  the  wagon  ;  he  asked  witness  for  fire  from 
his  cigar ;  witness  went  into  a  hallway  and  lit  a  match,  and  be- 
fore he  returned  the  wagon  had  passed :  they  returned  to  NefFs 
hall  where  he  heard  a  bomb  had  fallen  on  the  West  side,  and 
killed  a  great  many ;  Hewmann  blamed  Lingg  and  said  in  an 
angry  voice,  "You  are  the  cause  of  it  all ;"  they  then  went  and 
hid  their  bombs  under  sidewalks  and  in  various  places,  and  went 
home ;  Lingg  first  brought  dynamite  to  the  house  about  six  weeks 
beforeMay  1,  in  a  long  wooden  box  ;  he  made  a  wooden  spoon  to 
handle  it  with  in  filling  the  bombs;  witness  belonged  to  the 
Northwest  group,  and  his  number  was  72 ,  Engel  was  also  a  mem- 
ber. [The  bombs  were  here  produced  and  Judge  Gary  ordered 
them  removed  immediately  from  the  court  room  and  from  the 
building.]  Seliger's  testimony  was  unshaken  on  cross-examination. 
Mrs.  Bertha  Seliger  corroborated  her  husband's  testimony,  testi- 
fying that  at  one  time  six  or  seven  men  were  at  work  making 
bombs,  and  that  after  the  Haymarket  Lingg  tore  up  the  floor  of  a 
closet  to  secrete  those  he  had  on  hand. 

Lieutenant  John  D.  Shea,  Chief  of  the  Detective  force,  testi- 
fied to  having  assisted  in  the  raid  on  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  office, 
May  5.  The  galley  of  type  from  which  the  "Revenge"  circular 
was  printed,  copies  of  Herr  Most's  book,  and  other  anarchistic 
literature,  red  flags  and  banners  with  treasonable  devices,  and  a 
quantity  of  dynamite  were  found.  The  witness  asked  Spies  if 
he  wrote  the  "Revenge"  circular,  and  he  refused  to  answer. 
When  he  arrested  Fischer  he  asked  him  where  he  was  on  the 
night  of  the  Haymarket  meeting.  Fisher  said  in  the  Arbeiter- 
Zieiung  office  with  Schwab,  and  that  Rau  brought  word  that 


26  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

Spies  was  at  the  Haymarket,  that  a  big  crowd  was  there,  and 
they  all  went  over.  He  had  a  belt,  a  dagger,  and  a  fulminating 
cap  on  him  when  arrested,  but  he  said  he  carried  them  for  pro- 
tection. I  said  :  'You  didn't  need  them  in  the  office.'  He  said  : 
1 1  intended  to  go  away,  but  was  arrested.'  I  also  said  :  '  There 
has  been  found  other  weapons  like  this  sharpened  dagger ;  how 
is  it  you  come  to  carry  this  ? '  He  said  he  put  it  in  his  pocket 
for  his  own  protection." 

Detective  William  Jones  testified  that  he  had  a  locksmith 
open  a  closet  in  Spies  office,  and  in  a  desk  were  found  two  bars 
of  dynamite,  a  long  fuse,  a  box  of  fulminating  caps,  some  letters, 
and  copies  of  both  the  celebrated  circulars.  At  Fischer's  home 
he  found  a  lot  of  cartridges  and  a  blouse  of  the  Lehr  und  Wehr 
Verein.  Officer  Duffy  found  two  thousand  copies  of  the  circular 
calling  upon  the  working  men  to  arm,  and  the  manuscript  of 
the  "Revenge"  circular  in  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  office.  Heir 
Moat's  book,  "The  Science  of  Revolutionary  Warfare,"  found  in 
the  Arbeib  r  office,  was  offered  in  evidence ;  also  the  manual  for 
the  manufacture  of  explosives  and  poisons. 

Bernhard  Schrader,  a  native  of  Prussia,  five  years  in  this 
country,  a  carpenter  by  trade,  testified  that  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Lehr  und  Wehr  Verein ;  was  at  the  meeting  at  Greifs  hall 
the  night  of  May  3,  and  he  corroborated  Waller's  testimony 
throughout.  Besides  those  mentioned  by  Waller,  Schrader 
named  Hadermanu,  Thiel  and  Danafeldt,  as  attendants  at  the 
meeting.  He  saw  Balthauser  Rau  distributing  the  "  Revenge  " 
circulars  at  a  meeting  of  the  Carpenter's  Union  on  Desplaines 
street.  Witness  was  present  also  at  the  Sunday  meeting  on 
Emma  street.  It  was  here  agreed  to  cripple  the  fire  department, 
in  case  they  were  called  out,  by  cutting  their  hose.     Witness 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  27 

went  to  the  meeting  at  54  West  Lake  street  in  response  to  the 
signal  "  Y"  in  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung.  He  was  at  the  Haymarket, 
but  did  not  know  who  threw  the  bomb.  The  Northwest  group 
of  the  Lehr  und  Wekr  were  armed  with  Springfield  rifles. 
Witness'  number  iu  the  organization  was  3,312. 

Lieutenant  Edward  Steele  testified  that  when  the  police 
entered  the  Haymarket  somebody  cried  out :  "  Here  come  the 
blood-hounds.     You  do  your  duty,  and  we'll  do  ours." 

Lieutenant  Michael  Quinn  testified  that  he  heard  this  ex- 
clamation and  that  the  man  who  made  it  was  Fielden,  just  as  he 
ceased  speaking  on  the  wagon.  About  the  instant  the  bomb 
exploded,  Fielden  exclaimed  :    "  We  are  peaceable  ! " 

Lieutenant  Stanton  testified  that  the  bomb  exploded  four 
seconds  after  his  company  of  eighteen  men  entered  the  Hay- 
market. Every  member  of  his  company  except  two  were 
wounded,  and  two — Degan  and  Redden — killed.  The  witness 
was  wounded  in  eleven  places.  Officers  Krueger  and  Wessler 
testified  to  having  seen  Fielden  shoot  at  the  police  with  a  re- 
volver. 

Gustave  Lehman,  one  of  the  conspirators,  gave  a  detailed 
account  of  various  meetings  ;  the  afternoon  of  May  4  he  was  at 
Lingg's  house  where  men  with  cloths  over  their  faces  were 
making  dynamite  bombs ;  Huebner  was  cutting  fuse ;  Lingg 
gave  witness  a  small  hand-satchel  with  two  bombs,  fuse,  caps, 
and  a  can  of  dynamite ;  at  3  o'clock  in  the  morning,  after  the 
Haymarket  explosion,  he  got  out  of  bed  and  carried  this  material 
back  to  Ogden's  grove  and  hid  it,  where  it  was  found  by  Officer 
Hoffman ;  money  to  buy  dynamite  was  raised  at  a  dance  of  the 
Carpenters'  Union,  at  Floras'  Hall,  71  W^est  Lake  street.  Lingg 
took  this  money  and  bought  dynamite ;  Lingg  taught  them  how 


28  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

to  make  bombs.  M.  H.  Williamson  and  Clarence  P.  Dresser, 
reporters,  had  heard  Fielden,  Parsons  and  Spies  counsel  violence; 
the  latter  at  the  A  r be  iter  Zeitung  office  had  advised  that  the 
new  Board  of  Trade  be  blown  up  on  the  night  of  its  opening. 
George  Munn  and  Herman  Pudewa,  printers,  worked  on  the 
"Revenge"  circular  in  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  office;  Richard 
Reichel,  office-boy,  got  the  "copy"  for  it  from  Spies. 

The  most  sensational  evidence  of  the  trial,  as  showing  the 
inside  workings  of  the  armed  sections  of  the  socialists,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  most  damaging  as  indicative  of  their  motives 
and  designs,  was  that  of  Detective  Andrew  C.  Johnson,  of  the 
Pinkerton  agency,  an  entirely  disinterested  person  who  was 
detailed  in  December,  1884,  by  his  agency,  which  had  been 
employed  by  the  First  National  Bank  to  furnish  details  of  the 
secret  meetings  which  it  was  known  were  being  held  by  revolu- 
tionary plotters  at  various  places  throughout  the  city.  Johnson 
is  a  Scandinavian,  thin-faced  and  sandy-haired,  born  in  Copen- 
hagen, and  thirty-five  years  of  age.  He  told  his  story  in  a  calm, 
collected,  business-like  manner.     Mr.  Grinnell  asked : 

"  Do  you  know  any  of  the  defendants  ?"     Witness — "  I  do." 

"  Name    them."" — "  Parsons,    Fielden,    Spies,    Schwab   and 
Lingg." 

"  Were  you  at  any  time  connected  with  any  group  of   the 
International  Workingmen's  Association  ?" — "  I  was." 

"  What  group  ?" — "The  American  group.'1 

"  Were  you  a  member  of  any  armed  section  of  the  socialists 
of  this  city  ?"— "Yes,  sir." 

"  When  did  you  begin  attendance  at  their  meetings  ?" — "The 
first   meeting   I  attended   was  the  22d  of   February    1885,  at 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  29 

Baum's  pavilion.  The  last  meeting  I  attended  was  the  24th  of 
January  of  this  year." 

"At  whose  instance  did  you  go  to  their  meetings  ?" — "At  the 
instance  of  my  agency." 

"  Did  you  from  time  to  time  make  reports  of  what  you  heard 
and  saw  at  their  meetings  ?" — "I  did." 

"Mr.  Grinnell  passed  over  to  witness  a  bundle  of  papers  and 
asked  :  "Have  you  in  your  hand  a  report  of  the  meeting  of  the 
22d  of  February,  1885  ?"— "Yes,  sir." 

"  Were  any  of  the  defendants  present  at  that  meeting  ?" — 
"Yes,  sir ;  Parsons  was  present." 

"  Refer  to  your  memoranda  and  tell  me  what  was  said  by 
Parsons  at  that  meeting." — Objected  to ;  overruled. — "Parsons 
stated  that  the  reason  the  meeting  had  been  called  in  that  locality 
was  so  as  to  give  the  many  merchant  princes  who  resided  there 
an  opportunity  to  attend  and  see  what  the  Communists  had  to 
say  about  the  distribution  of  wealth.  He  said  :  'I  want  you  all 
to  unite  together  and  throw  off  the  yoke.  We  need  no  presi- 
dent, no  congressmen,  no  police,  no  militia,  and  no  judges. 
They  are  all  leeches,  sucking  the  blood  of  the  poor,  who  have 
to  support  them  all  by  their  labor.  I  say  to  you,  rise  one  and 
all,  and  let  us  exterminate  them  all.  Woe  to  the  police  or  to 
the  military  whom  they  send  against  us.'  " 

"  That  was  where  ?" — "At  Baum's  pavilion,  corner  of  Cottage 
Grove  avenue  and  Twenty-second  street." 

"  Have  you  a  report  of  any  other  of  the  defendants  speaking 
at  that  meeting  ?"— "No,  sir." 

"  What  is  the  next  memorandum  that  you  have  ?" — "  The 
next  meeting  was  March  1.  That  night  I  became  a  member.  I 
went  to  Thielen,  who  was  at  the  time  acting  as  treasurer  and 


.Til 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 


secretary  for  the  association,  and  gave  him  my  name  and  signi- 
fied mv  willingness  to  join  the  association.  He  entered  my  name 
in  a  book  and  handed  me  a  red  card  with  my  name  on  and  a 
number." 

"  When  and  where  was  that?— "That  was  March  1,  1885,  at 
Griefs  hall,  No.  54  West  Lake  street,  in  this  city." 

"Have  you  what  was  said  and  done  at  that  meeting?" — "  I 
have  a  report  of  it  here. " 

"  Who  spoke  ?  " — "  Parsons,  Fielden,  Spies,  and  others." 

"  Any  other  of  the  defendants  ?  " — "  No  sir." 

"  State  what  Fielden  said,  and  then  what  Parsons  said." — 
"A  lecture  was  given  by  a  man  named  Bailey  on  the  subject  of 
socialism  and  Christianity,  and  the  question  arose  as  to  whether 
Christianity  ought  to  be  introduced  in  their  meetings." 

"  What  did  Fielden,  Spies  and  Parsons  say  there  ? " — "  Fiel- 
den said  that  he  thought  this  matter  ought  not  to  be  introduced 
into  their  meetings.  Parsons  said,  '  I  am  of  the  same  opinion/ 
and  Spies  also  said  that  it  ought  not  to  be  introduced." 

"  Now  state  the  next  meeting." — "  The  next  meeting  was 
March  4,  at  the  same  place." 

Who  were  present? — "  Parsons,  Fielden  and  Spies  were  pres- 
ent, and  spoke." 

"  When  was  the  memorandum  made  that  you  have  of  that 
meeting  ? " — "  The  same  day,  immediately  after  the  termination 
of  the  meeting.  Parsons  said:  '  We  are  sorely  in  need  of  funds 
to  publish  the  Alarm.  As  many  of  you  as  are  able  ought  to 
give  as  much  as  you  can,  because  our  paper  is  our  most  power- 
ful weapon,  and  it  is  only  through  the  paper  that  we  can  hope 
to  reach  the  masses.'  During  his  lecture  he  introduced  Christi- 
anity.    Spies  stood  up  and  said:   '  We  don't  want  any  christian- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  31 

ity  here  in  our  meetings  at  all.  We  have  told  you  so  before.' 
Fielden  made  no  speech." 

"  When  was  the  next  meeting?" — "March  22." 

"  Were  any  speeches  made  by  any  of  the  defendants  there  ? " 
-"  Yes,  sir,  Spies  spoke,  Previously  a  man  named  Bishop  in- 
troduced a  resolution  of  sympathy  for  a  girl  named  Sorell. 
Bishop  stated  that  the  girl  had  been  assaulted  by  her  master. 
She  had  applied  for  a  warrant,  which  had  been  refused  her  on 
account  of  the  high  social  standing  of  her  master.  Spies  said: 
1  What  is  the  use  of  passing  resolutions  ?  We  must  act,  and  re- 
venge the  girl.  Here  is  a  fine  opportunity  for  some  of  our 
young  men  to  go  and  shoot  Wight.'  That  was  the  man  who 
had  assaulted  the  girl." 

"  Do  your  reports  contain  references  to  speeches  made  by 
others  ? "— "  They  do," 

"  You  are  only  picking  out  speeches  made  by  the  defend- 
ants?"    "That  is  all." 

"When  was  the  next  meeting?" — "March  29,  1885,  at 
Griefs  hall,  The  defendant,  Fielden,  spoke  at  that  meeting. 
He  said:  'A  few  explosions  in  the  city  of  Chicago  would  help 
the  cause  considerably.  There  is  the  new  Board  of  Trade,  a 
roost  of  thieves  and  robbers.  We  ought  to  commence  by  blow- 
ing that  up.'  " 

"Were  other  speeches  made  at  that  meeting?" — "There 
were,  but  no  others  made  by  the  defendants." 

"When  was  the  next  meeting?"— "April  1,  at  Griefs  hall. 
Spies,  Fielden  and  Parsons  were  present  at  the  meeting.  Spies 
made  a  lengthy  speech  on  this  occasion.  His  speech  was  in  re- 
gard to  acts  of  cruelty  committed. by  the  police  in  Chicago;  he 
spoke  of  the  number  of  arrests  made,  and  the  number  of  convic- 


32  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

tions  in  proportion.  He  also  referred  to  the  case  of  the  girl  who 
preferred  a  charge  of  assault  against  police-sergeant  Patton,  of 
the  West  Chicago  avenue  station.1' 

"  Who  else  spoke  there?'1 — "Fielden.  Spies  had  said  before 
that  he  had  advised  the  girl  to  get  a  pistol  and  go  and  shoot 
the  policeman.  Fielden  stood  up  and  said;  ■  That  is  what  she 
ought  to  do.1 " 

"What  was  the  next  meeting ?"— " April  8,  1885,  at  Greif's 
hall.  Parsons  made  a  lengthy  speech.  He  referred  frequently 
in  his  address  to  the  strike  at  the  McCormick  harvester  works. 
He  said  :  '  There  is  but  one  of  two  things  for  the  men  to  do. 
They  must  either  go  to  work  for  the  wages  offered  them  or  else 
starve.'  In  concluding  his  remarks  he  referred  to  the  strike  at 
La  Salle,  Illinois.  He  said :  '  To-morrow  morning  or  the  next 
day  the  authorities  here  in  the  city  will  probably  send  a  train- 
load  of  policemen  or  militia  to  La  Salle  to  shoot  down  the  work- 
ing people  there.  Now,  there  is  a  way  to  prevent  this.  All 
you  have  to  do  is  to  get  some  soap  and  place  it  on  the  rails  and 
the  train  will  be  unable  to  move.'  Parsons  spoke  at  great  length 
of  the  .crimes,  as  he  termed  them,  of  the  capitalists,  and  he  said 
to  those  present  that  it  was  an  absolute  necessity  for  them  to 
unite  against  them,  as  that  was  the  only  way  they  could  fight 
the  caj)italists." 

"Who  else  spoke  there?" — "Fielden.  He  said  it  was  a 
blessing  something  had  been  discovered  wherewith  the  working 
men  could  fight  the  police  and  militia  with  their  Gatling  guns." 
What  was  the  next  meeting  you  had  ? " — "  April  19.  That 
meeting  was  held  at  No.  106  Randolph  street,  because  the  hall 
at  No.  54  Lake  street  was  engaged.  At  this  meeting  Parsons 
offered  a  resolution  of  sympathy  for  Louis    Riel    and  the    half- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  33 

breeds  in  the  Northwest  who  were  in  rebellion  against  the  Can- 
adian government.  Neither  Parsons  nor  Fielden  spoke  at  the 
meeting." 

"What  was  the  next  meeting?" — "April  22,  at  Grreifs  hall. 
Referring  to  the  opening  of  the  new  Board  of  Trade  building, 
Parsons  said:  'What  a  splendid  opportunity  there  will  be  next 
Tuesday  night  for  some  bold  fellow  to  make  the  capitalists  trem- 
ble by  blowing  up  the  building  and  all  the  thieves  and  robbers 
that  are  there.'  At  the  conclusion  of  his  speech  he  said  that  the 
working  men  of  Chicago  should  form  in  processions  on  Market 
square  Tuesday  evening  next,  and  he  invited  all  those  present 
to  get  as  many  of  their  friends  as  they  could  to  join  in  the  pro- 
cession." 

"  Did  any  other  of  the  defendants  speak  there  ? " — "  Fielden 
said :  '  I  also  wish  to  invite  as  many  of  you  as  can  come  and  as 
many  as  you  can  get.  Go  around  to  the  lodging-houses  and  get 
all  you  can  to  join  in  the  procession — the  more  the  merrier.' " 

"When  was  the  next  meeting  ?"—" April  26,  at  Greif's  hall." 
"Did  any  of  the  defendants  speak  there?" — "There  were 
present  Parsons,  Fielden,  Spies.  Parsons  said:  'I  wish  you  all 
to  consider  the  misery  of  the  working  classes,  and  the  cause  of 
all  the  misery  is  these  institutions  termed  government.  I  lived 
on  snow-balls  all  last  winter,  but,  by  G — d !  I  won't  do  it  this 
winter.' " 

"What  was  the  next  meeting  at  which  any  of  the  defendants 
attended?" — "  April  30,  at  Market  square  ;  Parsons  and  Fielden. 
Parsons  said :  '  We  have  assembled  here  to  determine  in 
which  way  best  to  celebrate  the  dedication  of  the  new  Board  of 
Trade  building,  and  to  give  the  working  men  of  Chicago  a 
chance  to  state  their  views  in  the  matter '     Fielden  then  said : 


34  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

'  I  want  all  the  working  men  of  Chicago,  the  country,  and  the 
world  in  general  to  arm  themselves  and  sweep  the  capitalists  off 
the  face  of  the  earth.'  Parsons  then  said  :  '  Every  working 
man  in  Chicago  must  save  a  little  of  his  wages  every  week  until 
he  has  enough  to  buy  a  Colt's  revolver  and  a  Winchester  rifle, 
for  the  only  way  that  the  working  people  will  get  their  rights 
is  by  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  We  want  you  to  form  in  pro- 
cession now,  and  we  will  march  to  the  Board  of  Trade.  We 
will  halt  there,  and  while  the  band  is  playing  we  will  sing  the 
Marseillaise.' " 

"  Did  you  march  in  the  procession,  too  ? — "  I  did." 

"  Where  were  you  in  that  line  of  march  ?  " — "  I  was  in  the 
center  of  the  procession." 

"  Did  any  of  the  defendants  march  with  you  ? " — "  Not  with 
me,  but  in  the  procession  Fielden,  Spies,  Parsons  and  Neebe 
marched." 

"  What  was  the  next  meeting  ? " — "  There  was  something 
occured  the  night  of  May  30.  I  was  standing  at  the  corner  of 
Washington  street  and  Fifth  avenue  close  behind  Spies.  That 
was  Decoration  day,  and  as  the  procession  passed  by,  Spies  said  : 
'  A  half-dozen  dynamite  bombs  would  scatter  them  all.'  A 
little  later  a  gentleman  who  was  standing  near  remarked  upon 
the  fine  appearance  of  the  Illinois  National  Guard,  who  were 
then  passing.  Spies  said:  'They  are  only  boys,  and  would  be 
no  use  in  case  of  a  riot.  Fifty  determined  men  would  soon  dis- 
arm them  all.' " 

"  When  was  the  next  meeting  \ " — "  The  next  meeting  was 
on  the  Lake  front,  May  31,  and  Fielden  and  Parsons  was  there. 
Fielden  said  :     'It  is  only  by  strength   and  force  that  you  can 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  35 

overthrow  the  government.'  Parsons  also  spoke,  but  I  don't  rec- 
ollect what  he  said." 

"  Go  on  to  the  next  meeting." — "  The  next  meeting  was  June 
7,  at  Ogden's  grove.  There  were  present  Fielden,  Parsons  and 
Spies.  Fielden  said :  '  Every  working  man  in  Chicago  ought 
to  belong  to  organizations.  It  is  of  no  use  to  go  to  our  masters 
to  give  us  more  wages  or  better  times.  I  mean  for  you  to  use 
force.  It  is  of  no  use  for  the  working  people  to  hope  to  gain 
anything  by  means  of  an  ordinary  weapon.  Every  one  of  you 
must  learn  the  use  of  dynamite,  for  that  is  the  power  with  which 
we  hope  to  gain  our  rights.'  Schwab  also  spoke  at  that  meet- 
ing in  German,  which  I  do  not  understand." 

"  When  was  the  next  meeting  ?  " — "  The  next  meeting  was 
August  19,  at  Greifs  hall.  Parsons  and  Fielden  spoke.  Par- 
sons referred  to  the  late  strike  of  the  street-car  employes,  and 
said  that  if  but  one  shot  had  been  fired,  and  Bonfield  had  hap- 
pened to  be  shot,  the  whole  city  would  have  been  deluged  in 
blood,  and  social  revolution  would  have  been  inaugurated.  The 
next  meeting  was  August  24,  at  Greifs  hall." 

"  Do  you  know  of  a  fellow  named  Bodendecke  speaking  at 
those  meetings  ? " — "  Occasionally,  but  not  frequently ;  I  don't 
know  where  he  is  now.  There  were  some  twenty  or  twenty- 
three  men  present  at  that  meeting,  and  twenty  women." 

"  Name  who  were  present." — "  Besides  the  two  defendants, 
Parsons,  and  Fielden,  there  was  Baltus,  Bodendecke,  Boyd, 
Lawson,  Parker,  Franklin  and  Schneider." 

"  State  what  occured  there." — "  After  being  there  a  short 
time  a  man  armed  with  a  long  cavalry  sword  and  dressed  in  a 
blue  blouse  and  wearing  a  slouch  hat  came  into  the  room.  He 
ordered  all  those  present  to  fall  in.     He  then  called  off  certain 


36  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

names,  and  all  those  present  answered  to  their  names.  He  in- 
quired whether  there  were  any  new  members  who  wished  to  join 
the  military  company,  and  some  one  replied  that  there  was.  He 
then  said :  '  Whoever  wants  to  join  step  to  the  front.'  Myself 
and  two  others  stepped  to  the  front.  We  were  asked  separately 
to  give  our  names.  I  gave  my  name,  which  was  put  down  in  a 
book,  and  I  was  then  told  that  my  number  was  16.  Previous 
to  my  name  being  put  down  in  the  book,  a  man  to  whom  I  was 
speaking  asked  whether  there  was  any  one  present  who  knew 
me,  or  whether  any  one  could  vouch  for  my  being  a  true  man. 
The  defendant,  Parsons  and  Bodendecke  spoke  up  and  said  they 
Avould  vouch  for  me.  The  other  two  were  asked  their  names  in 
turn,  and  as  they  were  properly  vouched  for,  their  names  were 
entered  in  a  similar  manner  in  a  book,  and  they  were  given 
numbers.  The  man  who  came  into  the  room  armed  then  in- 
quired of  two  other  men  in  the  room  whether  they  were  mem- 
bers of  the  American  group.  Both  said  they  were  and  he  asked 
to  see  their  cards.  As  they  were  unable  to  show  cards  they 
were  expelled,  as  were  two  others.  The  doors  were  closed  and 
the  remainder  were  asked  to  fall  in  line,  and  we  were  drilled 
about  three-quarters  of  an  hour — put  through  a  regular  manual 
of  drill,  marching,  countermarching,  wheeling,  forming  fours, 
etc:' 

"Who  drilled  you?" — "The  man  that  came  in  with  the 
sword ;  I  didn't  ascertain  his  name.  At  the  expiration  of  that 
time  the  drill-instructor  stated  that  he  would  now  introduce 
some  of  the  members  of  the  first  company  of  the  German  organ- 
ization. He  went  outside  and  in  a  few  minutes  returned  accom- 
panied by  ten  other  men,  dressed  as  he  himself  was,  each  one 
armed  with  a  Springfield  rifle.     When   they  all   got   into   the 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY 


37 


room  he  placed  them  in  line  facing  us  and  introduced  them  as 
members  of  the  first  company  of  tho  Lehr  mid  Wehr  Verein. 
He  said  that  he  was  going  to  drill  them  a  little  while  to  let  us 
see  how  far  they  had  got  with  their  drill.  He  drilled  them 
about  ten  miuutes  in  a  regular  musket  drill.  At  the  end  of 
that  time  a  man  in  the  employ  of  the  proprietor  of  the  saloon  at 
No.  54  West  Lake  street  came  into  the  room  with  two  tin  boxes, 
which  he  placed  on  the  table  at  the  south  end  of  the  room.  The 
drill-instructor  then  asked  all  those  present  to  step  up  and  ex- 
amine the  two  tin  boxes,  as  they  were  the  latest  improved  dyna- 
mite bomb.  I  stepped  to  the  front  with  the  others,  and  exam- 
ined the  two  tins." 

"  Describe  them  as  near  as  you  can.'  — "  They  were  about  the 
size  and  had  the  appearance  of  ordinary  preserved  fruit  cans. 
The  top  part  unscrewed,  and  on  the  inside  the  cans  were  filled 
with  a  light-brown  mixture.  There  was  also  a  small  glass  tube 
inserted  in  the  center  of  the  can.  The  tube  was  in  connection 
with  a  screw,  and  it  was  explained  that  when  the  can  was  thrown 
against  any  hard  sabstance  it  would  explode." 

"  Was  that  mixture  a  liquid  \ " — "  Inside  of  the  glass  tube 
was  a  liquid." 

"  Was  there  anything  around  that  glass  tube  (  " — "  Yes,  sir ; 
it  was  a  brownish  mixture." 

"  Was  that  a  liquid  ?  " — "  No,  sir ;  it  looked  more  like  fine 
sawdust." 

"  Did  you  feel  of  it  ? "— "  I  did  not.  The  drill-instructor  told 
us  we  should  be  very  careful  about  selecting  new  members  of 
company,  because  if  we  were  not,  there  was  no  telling  whom  we 
might  get  into  our  midst.  The  next  proceeding  of  the  evening 
was  to  select  officers.     A  man  named  Walters  was  chosen  Cap- 


38  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

tain,  and  Parsons  was  chosen  Lieutenant.  Some  discussion 
arose  as  to  what  the  company  should  be  called.  It  was  decided 
eventually  that  we  should  be  called  the  International  Rifles. 
The  drill-instructor  then  suggested  that  we  ought  to  choose  some 
other  hall,  as  we  were  not  quite  safe  there.  He  added :  '  We 
have  a  fine  place  at  No.  636  Milwaukee  avenue.  We  have  a 
shooting  range  in  the  basement,  where  we  practice  shooting  reg- 
ularly.' Parsons  inquired  whether  it  was  not  possible  for  us  to 
rent  the  same  place.  The  driil-instructor  informed  him  he  did 
not  know.  The  question  of  renting  another  hall  was  postponed, 
and  our  next  meeting  was  fixed  for  the  next  Monday." 

Mr.  Salomon — "  A  meeting  of  what  ? " 

Witness — "  A  meeting  of  the  armed  section  of  the  American 
group." 

Mr.  Grinnell — "  Who  drilled  that  company  that  night  ?  " — 
Witness — "  That  German,  and  Parsons  and  Fielden." 

"When  was  the  next  meeting?" — "The  following  Monday, 
the  31st  of  August,  at  the  same  place.  Parsons  and  Fielden 
were  present,  and  others.  That  was  a  meeting  of  the  armed  sec- 
tion, and  it  was  held  at  Greifs  hall.  Capt.  Walters  drilled  us 
about  an  hour  and  a  half.  Afterward  a  consultation  was  held 
by  the  members  of  the  company  as  to  the  best  way  of  procuring 
arms.  Some  one  suggested  that  each  member  should  pay  so 
much  a  week  until  a  sufficient  amount  had  been  raised  where- 
with to  purchase  a  rifle  for  each  member  of  the  company.  Par- 
sons said  :  '  Look  here,  boys,  why  can't  we  make  a  raid  some 
night  on  the  militia  armory  ?  There  are  only  two  or  three  men 
on  guard  there,  and  it  is  easily  done.''  This  suggestion  seemed 
to  be  favored  by  the  members,  and  it  was  finally  decided  to  put 
the  matter  off  until  the  nights  got  a  little  longer." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  39 

Capt.  Black — u  Which  matter  was  put  off  ? " 

Witness — "  The  raid  on  the  armory." 

Mr.  Grinnell — "  When  was  the  next  meeting  ? " — Witness — 
"  September  3,  1885,  at  No.  54  West  Lake  street.  Fielden  made 
a  speech  there  and  said :  '  It  is  useless  for  you  to  suppose  that 
you  can  ever  obtain  anything  in  any  other  way  than  by  force. 
You  must  arm  yourselves  and  prepare  for  the  coming  revolu- 
tion.' That  was  one  of  the  ordinary  meetings  of  the  association. 
The  next  meeting  was  October  11,  at  Twelfth  street  Turner  hall. 
Spies  and  Fielden  were  present.  Fielden  said:  'The  Eight- 
Hour  law  will  be  of  no  benefit  to  the  working  men.  You  must 
organize  and  use  force.  You  must  crush  out  the  present  Gov- 
ernment by  force.  It  is  the  only  way  in  which  you  can  better 
your  present  condition.'  I  left  with  Fielden  before  the  meeting 
terminated." 

"  When  was  the  next  meeting  you  attended  ? " — "  The  next 
meeting  was  December  '20,  at  Twelfth  street  Turner  hall.  Fiel- 
den was  present.  He  said  :  '  All  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe 
are  trembling  at  the  very  name  of  Socialism,  and  I  hope  soon  to 
see  a  few  Liskes  in  the  United  States  to  put  away  a  few  of  the 
tools  of  the  capitalists.  The  execution  of  Kiel  in  the  Northwest 
was  downright  murder.' " — "  Was  that  an  open  meeting  \  " — "  It 
was  as  far  as  I  know.     I  saw  no  one  refused  admission." 

"  How  about  those  other  meetings  you  have  mentioned,  aside 
from  the  armed  sections  \  " — "  Aside  from  the  meetings  of  the 
armed  section  I  should  say  that  they  were  public.  I  never  saw 
any  one  refused  admission." — "Was  there  any  precaution 
taken  ?  " — "  A  precaution  was  taken  in  this  way  :  A  member 
of  the  group  was  generally  stationed  at  the  door,  and  as  each 


40  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

member  entered  the  hall  he  was  closely  scrutinized.  The  next 
meeting  was  December  30." 

"  What  place  ?  "— "  At  No.  106  Randolph." 

"  Who  spoke  there  ?" — "  Fielden.  At  this  meeting  a  stranger 
asked  a  question,  and  Fielden  replied  to  the  question." 

"  Do  you  know  what  the  question  was  ?  " — "  The  question 
was  :  '  Would  the  destruction  of  private  property  assist  univer- 
sal co-operation  ? '  Fielden  replied  :  '  Neither  I  or  any  body 
else  can  tell  what  is  going  to  be  in  a  hundred  years  from  now, 
but  this  everybody  knows  :  If  private  property  is  done  away 
with,  it  would  insure  a  better  state  of  things  generally.  And 
Ave  are  trying  all  we  can  to  teach  the  people  the  best  way  in 
which  to  bring  about  this  change.' " 

"  Wrho  was  present  at  that  meeting  ?  " — "  Fielden,  only. 
The  next  meeting  was  January  of  this  year,  at  Twelfth  street 
Turner  hall.  Fielden  and  Schwab  were  present.  Fielden,  re- 
ferring to  the  troubles  in  Ireland,  said  :  '  If  every  Irishman 
would  become  a  Socialist,  he  would  have  a  better  opportunity 
to  secure  home-rule  for  Ireland.  I  want  all  Irishmen  to  destroy 
all  the  private  property  they  can  lay  their  hands  on.'  He  also 
referred  to  other  matters.  What  he  said  had  reference  to  Pink- 
erton's  detective  agency." 

"  What  was  it  he  said?" — "He  said  Pinkerton's  detectives 
were  a  lot  of  cold-blooded  murderers,  and  the  worst  enemies  the 
working  men  had,  and  they  were  all  in  the  pay  of  the  cap- 
italists." 

"  Is  that  all  that  was  said  there  ?  Was  that  one  of  these  or- 
dinary opening  meetings  (  " — "  It  was." 

"What  else  happened?" — "Schwab  also  addressed  this  meet- 
ing in  German.     During  his  speech  he  was  frequently  applaud- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  41 

ed.  The  next  meeting  I  attended  was  January  14,  at  No.  106 
Randolph  Street." 

"  January  of  this  year  ? " — "  Yes,  sir." 

"  What  was  said  at  this  meeting  ? " — "  Before  the  meeting 
commenced  the  defendants,  Fielden  and  Spies,  had  a  conversa- 
tion which  I  overheard." 

"Where  was  that?"—"  That  was  held  in  the  hall  near  the 
door." 

"  State  what  you  heard." — "  Spies  said  to  Fielden  :  '  Don't 
say  very  much  about  that  article  on  Anarchists  in  an  afternoon 
paper.  You  simply  need  to  state  that  a  reporter  of  the  paper 
had  an  interview  with  me  a  few  days  ago,  but  that  most  of  the 
statements  of  the  paper  are  lies." 

"How  was  that  conversation  carried  on?" — "It  was  carried 
on  quietly  and  was  not  meant  for  anybody  else  to  hear." 

"  Capt.  Black  objected  to  the  last  part  of  the  answer,  and 
succeeded  in  having  it  stricken  out. 

"  What  was  the  tone  of  voice  \  " — '-  In  whispers." 

"  When  did  they  leave  ? " — "  Spies  further  said :  '  You  must 
be  careful  in  your  remarks.  You  don't  know  who  might  be 
amongst  us  to-night.'  Spies  then  went  away  and  the  meeting 
was  called  to  order  " 

"  By  whom  ?"—"  Fielden." 

"  What  did  he  say  ? " — "  He  made  a  long  talk,  commenting 
on  the  articles  that  appeared.  He  said  almost  all  of  the  state- 
ments were  lies.  He  said  in  regard  to  dynamite  bombs :  '  It  is 
quite  true  we  have  lots  of  explosives  and  dynamite  in  our  pos- 
session, and  we  will  not  hesitate  to  use  them  when  the  proper 
time  comes.  We  care  nothing  at  all  either  for  the  military  or 
the  police.     All  of  these  are  in  the  pay  of  the  capitalists.'     He 


42  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

further  said  that  'even  in  the  regular  army  most  of  the  soldiers 
are  in  sympathy  with  us,  and  most  of  them  have  been  driven  to 
enlist.  I  have  had  a  letter  from  a  friend  out  West.  He  told 
me  that  he  had  seen  a  soldier  on  the  frontier  reading  a  copy  of 
the  Alarm.''  Others  then  made  speeches.  Afterward  Fielden 
again  spoke  at  the  same  meeting  in  regard  to  the  question  asked 
him,  what  was  the  Socialist  idea  of  the  eight-hour  movement. 
Fielden  said  :  '  We  don't  object  to  but  we  don't  believe  in  it. 
Whether  a  man  works  eight  hours  a  day  or  ten  hours  a  day  he 
is  still  a  slave.  We  propose  to  abolish  slavery  altogether.'  That 
is  all  of  that  meeting.  Fielden  said,  the  24th  of  January,  at  a 
meeting  held  at  No.  106  Randolph  street — " 

"  What  is  the  name  of  that,  Jung's  hall  ? " — "  Yes,  I  believe 
it  is  Jung's  hall.  Fielden  said  good  results  were  sure  to  follow 
the  abolishment  of  private  property." 

"  When  did  you  quit  this  branch  of  your  business  ?  " — "  The 
latter  part  of  January  last-" 

"  Did  you  know  then  of  Pinkerton's  agency  having  any  other 
men  employed  in  the  same  line  that  you  were  employed  in  ? " — 
"  I  knew  there  had  been  another  man,  but  whether  he  was  em- 
ployed then  I  do  not  know." 

"Have  you  lately,  within  the  last  few  days,  ascertained,  and 
do  you  know  the  fact,  that  you  have  seen  any  Pinkerton  men  in 
these  meetings  ( " — "  That  is  so." 

"  But  you  did  not  know  it  at  that  time  ? " — "  I  did  not  know 
it  at  that  time." 

"How  often  did  you  drill  with  the  armed  section?" — "  Only 
twice." 

"  How  often  did  they  drill  ?"— "  Once  a  week." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  43 

"  Have  you  got  any  information  from  any  other  members  of 
the  organization  ?     If  they  drilled  after  that  ?  " 

Objected  to  and  withdrawn. 

"  Did  you  ascertain  from  any  of  the  defendants  if  they  drilled 
after  that  i "— "  I  did  not." 

"  Have  you  had  any  other  talk  with  Parsons  outside  of  these 
utterances  ? " — "  I  have." 

"Have  you  had  any  talk  with  Spies,  Fielden,  Parsons,  and 
other  defendants  as  to  the  purposes  of  their  organization  \ " — "  I 
have  talked  frequently  with  Parsons  and  Fielden  at  various 
times  aud  at  various  places.  I  cannot  recollect  as  to  what  was 
said  at  each  place  and  when  it  was  said." 

"  Can  you  give  me  the  substance  or  purport  of  what  was 
said  at  any  time  ?  " 

Captain  Black  objected,  unless  time  and  place  were  given. 

"  What  was  the  object  of  the  armed  section  as  was  expressed 
by  the  members  I  " — "  At  the  first  meeting  of  the  armed  section 
the  discussion  arose  as  to  what  the  company  should  be  called. 
Some  one  suggested  that  the  company  should  be  amalgamated 
with  the  German  organization,  and  the  company  was  to  be  called 
the  Fourth  Company  of  the  Lehr  und  Wehr  Verein.  This  idea 
was  opposed,  and  finally  it  was  decided  that  it  should  be  called 
the  International  Rifles.  It  was  further  said  and  understood  by 
all  the  members  that  in  case  of  a  conflict  with  the  authorities  the 
International  Rifles  were  to  act  in  concert  with  the  Lehr  und 
Wehr  Verein,  and  obey  the  orders  of  the  officers  of  that  organ- 
ization." 

"  What  was  said  at  any  time  as  to  when  this  revolution  was 
to  take  place — when  was  to  be  the  culmination  of  the  conflict?'1 — 
"The  1  st  of  May  was  frequently  mentioned  as  a  good  opportunity." 


44  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

"  What  1st  of  May  ?  " — "  This  present.  As  far  as  I  remem- 
ber it  was  at  a  meeting  at  Twelfth  street  Turner  hall  on  one 
occasion  in  December,  and  it  was  the  defendant  Fielden  that 
said  the  1st  of  May  would  be  the  time  to  strike  the  blow.  There 
would  be  so  many  strikes  and  there  would  be  50,000  men  out  of 
work — that  is  to  say  if  the  eight-hour  movement  was  a  failure." 

"  Have  you  ever  met  any  of  them  at  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung 
office?"— "I  have." 

"  What  conversation  did  you  have  ?  " — "I  had  a  conversation 
with  Parsons  some  time  in  March.  The  conversation  took  place 
in  the  Alarm  office  in  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  building.  This  office 
is  situated  in  the  back  of  the  building." 

"  Well,  state  what  you  remember  of  the  conversation." — "  I 
asked  Parsons  if  he  did  not  think  it  advisable  to  get  some  papers 
printed  in  the  Scandinavian  language,  as  I  thought  I  could  make 
use  of  them.  I  intended  to  distribute  them  among  the  Scandi- 
navian people  along  Milwaukee  avenue  and  that  neighborhood. 
Parsons  replied  :  '  Yes,  it  is  a  good  idea,  and  the  best  thing  you 
can  do  is  to  bring  the  matter  up  in  our  next  meeting.  Bring  it 
up  before  the  meeting,  and  I  will  see  that  it  is  attended  to.  It 
is  no  use,  we  must  have  the  Scandinavians  with  us.'  " 

"Did  you  have  any  talk  with  any  of  these  defendants  about 
the  purposes  and  objects  of  the  social  revolution,  so  called  ?" — 
"I  have  had  numerous  conversations  with  Fielden  and  Parsons 
but  I  cannot  remember  distinctly  what  was  said." 

"  What  was  Parsons'  relation  to  the  Alarm  f  " — "  He  was . 
the  editor." 

"Did  you  ever  see  a  book  by  Most  called  '  The  Modern 
Science  of  Revolutionary  Warfare  ? '  Look  at  that  book  and 
state  whether  you  have  seen  it  before." — "  I  have." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  45 

"  Where  ? " — "  I  have  seeu  it  at  meetings  at  Twelfth  street 
Turner  hall ;  at  No.  54  West  Lake  street,  and  also  at  No.  106 
Randolph." 

•'  Who  had  charge  of  the  distribution  of  it  ?  " — "The  Chair- 
man." 

"  Of  the  respective  meetings  ? " — "  Yes,  sir." 

"  Were  they  sold  or  given  away  ? " — "  They  were  sold." 

"  Do  you  know  whether  or  not  any  steps  were  taken  to  dis- 
tribute the  Alarm?  " 

"  There  were  a  number  of  those-  present  at  that  particular 
meeting  who  bought  a  number  of  copies  of  the  Alarm,. and  said 
that  they  would  try  their  best  to  sell  them  and  obtain  new  sub- 
scribers." 

"  Do  you  know  a  man  named  Schneider  and  one  Thomas 
Brown?"— "Yes,  sir." 

"  Did  they  belong  to  the  American  group  ?  " — "  Both  of 
them." 

"  Did  they  belong  to  the  armed  section  ?  " — "  Both  of  them." 

"  Where  usually  did  the  American  group  meet  before  the 
time  you  ceased  your  connection  with  it  ?  " 

"During  the  last  few  meetings  it  met  at  No.  1C6  Randolph 
street." 

"Prior  to  that  where  did  it  meet?" — "It  had  met  at  No.  54 
West  Lake  street,  also  at  No.  45  North  Clark  street,  and  on  the 
Lake  front." 

"Did  you  ever  meet  with  the  American  group  at  No.  107 
Fifth  avenue  2 " — "  No,  sir." 

"No.  636  Milwaukee  avenue  was  the  place  mentioned  as  tne 
proper  place  for  drilling.  Were  you  ever  there?" — "I  was 
there.', 


46  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

"  Did  they  meet  more  than  once  there  ?  " — "  I  don't  know." 

"  Do  you  know  what  the  hall  is  called  ?  " — "  I  do." 

"  What  is  it  ?  "— "  Thalia  hall." 

"  When  you  joined  this  organization  did  it  cost  you  any- 
thing ?  "— "  Ten  cents." 

"  How  often  did  you  pay  the  contributions  ?  " — "  Once  a 
month." 

"  How  much  ?  "— "  Ten  cents." 

"  W'hen  you  joined  the  armed  section  did  that  require  any 
special  contribution  ?  " — "  No,  sir." 

"What  was  Fielden's  office  in  the  group  of  the  armed 
section  ? " 

'•He  was  Treasurer  and  Secretary  of  the  organization — of 
the  group." 

"  Did  he  hold  any  office,  or  was  he  simply  a  private  in  the 
armed  section  ? " 

"  He  held  no  office  while  I  attended  there." 

CROSS-EXAMINED. 

Cross-examined  by  Mr.  Foster : — "  Where  were  you  before 
you  came  here  ?  " 

"  I  was  a  police  officer  in  England  eight  years." 

"  In  uniform  ?  "— "  Part  of  the  time." 

"  How  long  did  you  do  detective  service  there?" — "Three 
years," 

"At  what  place?" — "In  Lancashire." 

"How  long  have  you  been  with  Pinkerton?" — "Three 
years." 

"  What  did  you  do  before  you  became  a  detective  here  ? 
Were  you  ever  in  any  legitimate  business  ?  " 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  47 

Mr.  Grinnell — "  In  any  oilier  legitimate  business  ?  " 

Witness — "  I  was  storekeeper  at  the  Windsor  hotel." 

"Was  that  meeting  at  Baum's  hall  a  public  one?" — "It 
was." 

"  March  1  you  became  a  member?  " — "  Yes,  sir." 

"  Were  your  antecedents  inquired  into  ?  " — "  No,  sir." 

"  You  just  paid  your  ten  cents  and  were  received  ? " — "  Yes, 
sir. 

"  Is  not  that  your  experience,  that  anybody  who  could  pay 
10  cents  could  be  received  ?  "—"Yes,  sir." 

"Del  you  ever  see  anybody  excluded  ?  " — "No,  sir,  except 
reporters.     I  have  seen  reporters  excluded  sometimes." 

"  Were  not  reporters  generally  freely  admitted  ?  " — "  Not 
very  often." 

"They  had  seats  for  them  and  a  table  ?" — "I  don't  know. 
I  never  saw  more  than  one  at  a  time  there." 

"  Did  you  ever  see  anybody  excluded  by  the  doorkeeper  ?  " 
"No,  sir." 

"Did  you  ever  have  any  ushers — anybody  who  got  seats  for 
strangers. 

"  No,  sir ;  but  I  saw  some  of  the  old  members  get  up  and 
give  their  seats  when  strangers  came  in." 

"  You  stated  that  Mr.  Spies  introduced  resolutions  in  sym 
pathy  with  a  girl  (  " 

"  Somebody  else  introduced  them  but  Spies  opposed  it.  He 
said  there  was  no  use  making  resolutions." 

"  That  is,  the  girl  had  had  her  day  in  court  and  it  was  no  use 
passing  resolutions  ? " 

"He  said  it  would  be  a  good  opportunity  for  some  one  to 
take  a  pistol  and  go  and  shoot  Wight." 


48  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

"You  are  sure  Spies  said  that?" — "Yes,  sir." 

"  You  wrote  out  your  report  ininiediately  with  all  the  facts 
fresh  in  your  mind." — "Yes,  I  wrote  it  that  night." 

"Didn't   you  write   in    your   report    [reading  from  it]  that 
Keegan  said  that  after  Spies  got  through  with  his  remarks  ? " 
"Yes,  but  Mr.  Spies  said  it  also." 

"You  are  sure  of  that?" — "Yes,  sir." 

41  Will  you  show  me  the  place  in  your  report  where  this  is 
said?" — "I  don't  find  it." 

"  Then  your  memory  is  better  now  than  it  was  immediately 
after  the  meeting? " 

"It  is  considerably  better  now  that  I  have  refreshed  it." 

"A  detective's  memory  gets  better  as  the  time  goes  on,  does 
it?" 

Mr.  Grinnell  objected  to  this  kind  of  cross-examination. 

Referring  to  the  charges  against  Sergt.  Patton,  Mr  Foster 
asked :  "  Were  the  circumstances  stated  that  the  girl  had  been 
grossly  abused,  but  his  brother  officers  stood  round  and  swore 
him  out  ? " 

"It  may  have  been." 

"And  was  it  not  stated  as  a  general  expression  that  such  a 
man  ought  to  be  shot?" 

"  It  may  have  been." 

In  regard  to  the  strike  at  La  Salle,  Mr.  Foster  made  it  ap- 
pear as  if  Parsons  had  simply  stated  in  general  terms  that  if  soap 
w  as  put  on  the  rails  the  train  would  not  be  able  to  move,  but 
that  he  did  not  advise  anybody  to  go  and  put  the  soap  on. 
Fielden's  remark  that  something  had  been  discovered  by  which 
the  working  men  could  resist  the  police  and  militia,  and  Parsons 
remark  that  he  would  not  live  on  snowballs  another  winter,  were 


OSCAR  NEEBE. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  40 

represented  by  Mr.  Foster  in  an  equally  innocent  and  harmless 
light.  The  cross-examination  fo"  the  day  concluded  with  the 
following  questions  and  answers  : 

"  You  heard  Fielden  say  :  '  While  we  march  toward  the 
Board  of  Trade  we  will  sing  the  Marseillaise  hymn  ? " — "  Yes, 
sir.1' 

"  That  you  understood  to  be  the  French  national  hymn  ?  " — 
"Yes,  sir." 

W.  H.  Freeman,  a  reporter,  testified  as  follows : 

"I  was  at  the  corner  of  Randolph  and  Desplaines  streets. 
Saw  Parsons  speaking,  and  listened  to  what  he  had  to  say. 
Some  one  said  Mayor  Harrison  was  there  and  I  tried  to  find 
him.  There  was  a  big  crowd.  Parsons  said  that  Jay  Gould 
was  a  robber,  and  asked  what  was  to  be  done.  Somebody 
shouted,  '  Throw  him  in  the  lake.'  Parsons  said  :  '  No,  that 
won't  do.  We  must  overthrow  the  system  by  which  he  was 
enabled  to  secure  so  much  money.'  He  shouted  frequently  :  'To 
arms  !  to  arms  ! '  and  the  crowd  applauded.  There  were  six  or 
eight  persons  on  the  wagon.  Fielden,  the  next  speaker,  dis- 
cussed legislation,  saying  that  Martin  Foran  had  admitted  that 
it  was  impossible  for  the  working  men  to  get  their  rights  through 
legislation,  and  that  the  people  were  fools  to  send  such  a  man  to 
Congress  when  he  owned  that  the  legislation  could  not  better 
them.  He  justified  the  forthcoming  revolution,  saying  it  was 
just  as  proper  as  the  colonial  revolution.  The  police  came  up 
quietly  and  my  first  knowledge  of  it  was  the  command  to  dis- 
perse. Then  the  bomb  exploded.  It  made  a  terrible  noise,  and 
a  moment  after  the  firing  commenced.  Parsons,  Spies  and 
Fielden  were  on  the  wagon,  and  I  think  I  saw  Schwab  there. 
I  crouched  down  behind  the  wagon    until    after   the  firing  was 


50  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

over ;  then  I  went  to  the  Desplaines  street  station.  On  getting 
out  on  the  street  I  saw  two  officers  lying  wounded.  I  spoke  to 
them  but  they  didn't  answer,  so  I  told  the  sergeant  of  a  patrol- 
wagon  about  it." 

Officer  McKeogh  testified. : 

"  I  was  at  the  Hay  market  on  the  night  of  May  4.  Parsons 
followed  Spies,  saying :  '  I  am  a  Socialist  from  the  top  of  my 
head  to  the  soles  of  my  feet,  and  I'll  express  my  sentiments  if  I 
die  before  morning.'  Again  he  said .  '  I  pay  rent  for  the  house 
I  live  in.'  Some  one  asked :  '  What  does  the  landlord  do  with 
the  money?'  Parsons  replied:  'I  am  glad  you  asked  that 
question.  The  landlord  pays  taxes,  they  go  to  pay  the  sheriff, 
the  militia,  and  the  Pinkertonites.'  The  crowd  cheered,  then 
Parsons  cried  :  '  To  arms !  to  arms  ! '  and  Fielden  took  the  stand 
He  said  :  '  The  law  does  not  protect  you,  working  men.  Did 
the  law  protect  you  when  the  police  shot  down  your  brothers  at 
McCormick's  ?  Did  the  law  protect  you  when  McCormick  closed 
the  doors  of  his  factory  and  left  you  and  your  wives  and  chil- 
dren to  starve?     I  say  throttle  the  law;  strangle  it,  kill  it!"1 

H.  E  O.  Heineman,  formerly  a  reporter  on  the  Arbeiter 
Zeitung,  was  asked : 

"  Mr.  Heineman,  you  were  formerly  an  Internationalist  ? " — 
"Yes,  sir." 

"  When  did  you  cease  your  connection  with  them  ? " — 
"  About  two  years  ago. 

"  Whom  of  the  defendants  do  you  know  that  were  in  that 
association  or  society  before  you  left  it  ? " — "  Of  my  own  knowl 
edge  I  know  none  but  one,  that  is  Neebe.  He  used  to  belong 
to  the  same  group  that  I  did." 

"  Did  you  ever  meet  with  any  of   the    others  at   any  of  the 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  51 

meetings  ?  " — "  Yes  ;    Spiels,    Schwab,   and    I    think,    Parsons.'1 

"That  was  about  the  time  Hen*  Most  came  here  and  deliv- 
ered some  speeches  ? " — "  Yes,  sir." 

"  And  it  was  on  account  of  those  speeches  you  severed  your 
connection  with  the  Anarchists  ?" — "Yes." 

"  Whom  did  you  see  on  the  speaker's  wagon  at  the  Hay- 
market  ? " — "  I  saw  the  speakers,  Spies,  Schwab  and  Fielden,  and 
Rudolph  Schnaubelt,  whom  I  had  formerly  kno.wn  from  my 
connection  with  the  Internationalists." 

"  You  say  Schnaubelt  was  on  the  wagon.  How  long  after 
the  cloud  came  up  and  the  crowd  thinned  out  did  you  see  him  2 " 
— "  I  cannot  say." 

"  Well,  how  long  before  the  police  came  did  you  miss  Sch- 
naubelt ? " — "  I  cannot  say  ;  perhaps  ten  minutes." 

"You  say  Mr.  Neebe  was  a  member  of  the  Internationalist 
organization.  Now,  you  didn't  have  any  passwords,  did  you  ? 
It  wasn't  an  organization  where  you  drilled,  was  it  ?" — "It  was 
an  avowed  Socialistic  order." 

Another  sensational  witness  was  Harry  L.  Gilmer,  a  work- 
man, who  testified  that  he  saw  Spies  and  Rudolph  Schnaubelt 
standing  inside  the  mouth  of  the  alley  at  the  Haymarket ;  that 
Spies  lit  a  match  for  Schnaubelt,  who  in  turn  lit  the  fuse  of  the 
bomb  and  threw  it  among  the  police.  An  effort  was  made  to 
shake  the  testimony  of  this  witness,  which  was  not  successful, 
and  witnesses  were  then  brought  forward  to  impeach  his  ver- 
acity, but  the  state  produced  many  prominent  men  who  knew 
him,  and  who  stated  that  they  would  believe  him  under  oath. 

Captain  Frank  Schaack,  in  charge  of  the  East  Chicago 
avenue  police  station,  who  unearthed  the  Anarchists'  conspiracv 
after  the  Haymarket,  was  called  to  the  stand  on  Thursday,  July 


52  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

29.      Linggs  trunk  was  placed  before  him.      He  was  asked: 
"  Do  you  know  any  of  the  defendants  in  this  case  ? " 
"I  have  seen  Spies,  Schwab  and   Parsons,  and  Engel  and 
Lingg  were  arrested  and  confined  in  rny  station." 

"  When  did  you  first  converse  with  Lingg  about  this  case  ? " 
"About  3  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  May  14.  First  I 
asked  him  his  name.  He  told  me.  I  asked  him  if  he  was  at  the 
meeting  at  54  Lake  street  on  Tuesday  night.  He  said :  '  Yes.' 
Then  he  said  he  made  dynamite.  I  asked  him  what  for.  He 
said:  'To  use  then.'  He  looked  excited.  I  asked  why  he 
disliked  the  police.  He  said  he  had  a  reason ;  the  police  clubbed 
the  men  at  McCormick's.  He  said  he  was  down  on  the  police 
because  they  took  the  part  of  the  capitalists.  I  said :  '  Why 
don't  you  use  guns  instead  of  dynamite  ? '  He  said  guns 
wouldn't  do ;  that  the  militia  would  outnumber  the  Socialists. 
I  asked  him  how  he  learned  to  make  dynamite.  He  said  out  of 
books,  and  that  he  made  bombs  out  of  gas-pipe  and  out  of  lead 
and  metal  mixed.  He  said  he  got  the  lead  on  the  streets  and 
the  gas-pipe  along  the  river  or  anywhere  he  could.'1 
"  What  other  conversation  did  you  have  ? " 
''Lingg  said  he  made  those  bombs  and  meant  to  use  them. 
Then  Mrs.  Seliger  accused  him  of  making  bombs  a  few  weeks 
after  he  came  to  her  house.  I  knew  then  that  he  had  made  a 
good  many.  John  Thielen  was  arrested  at  the  same  time,  and 
from  him  we  got  two  bombs.  I  said  to  Lingg  :  '  This  man 
says  you  gave  him  the  bombs.  What  have  you  to  say  ? '  He 
looked  at  Thielen  and  shook  bis  head,  and  Thielen  said  :  '  Oh, 
it's  no  use,  everything  is  known ;  you  might  just  as  well  talk.' 
But  Lingg  refused  to  say  anything." 
"Anything  else?" 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  53 

"Well,  this  trunk  here  was  brought  to  my  office.  Under  the 
lining  I  found  a  lot  of  dynamite  and  some  fuse  and  asked  him 
if  that  was  the  kind  of  dynamite  he  used.  He  said  it  was  ;  that 
he  got  it  at  a  store  on  Lake  street.  There  were  three  kinds  of 
dynamite.  He  said  he  experimented  once  with  a  long  bomb ; 
that  he  put  it  in  a  tree,  touched  it  off,  and  that  it  riddled  the 
tree  to  atoms.  I  asked  him  if  he  knew  Spies.  He  said  'Yes, 
for  some  time  ;'  that  he  was  often  at  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  office. 
I  asked  him  how  long  he  had  been  a  Socialist.  He  said  he'd 
been  a  Socialist  as  long  as  he  could  think." 

"  Did  you  have  any  conversation  with  Engel  I " 

"  Yes,  on  the  18th,  in  the  evening,  I  asked  him  where  he  was 
May  3.  He  said  he  worked  for  a  man  named  Koch.  I  asked 
him  if  he  made  a  speech  at  the  meeting  at  54  Lake  street.  He 
said  no,  but  that  he  was  at  the  meeting.  The  second  time  I 
talked  with  him  his  wife  came.  She  brought  him  a  bunch  of 
flowers.  He  got  excited,  and  cried  :  '  What  good  are  those 
flowers  to  me  ?  Here  I  am  locked  up  in  a  dark  cell.'  Then  his 
wife  said  :  '  Papa,  see  what  trouble  you've  got  yourself  into  J 
why  haven't  you  stopped  this  nonsense  ?  He  said  :  '  Mamma, 
I  can't.  I  am  cursed  with  eloquence.  What  is  in  a  man  must 
come  out.  Louis  Michel  suffered  for  the  cause.  She  is  a 
woman ;  why  should  I  not  suffer?  I  am  a  man,  and  I  will  stand 
it  like  a  man." 

"How  many  bombs  in  all  did  you  find  ?  " — "  Objected  to. 

"Tell  the  jury  what  experiments  you  made  with  those 
bombs.''' 

"One  bomb  found  in  Lingg's  room,  which  Schuettler  said 
was  loaded  with  a  funnel,  I  put  in  a  box  two  feet  square  and 
buried  in  the  ground  three  feet  deep  at  Lake  View.     Officers 


54  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

Stift,  Rehni  and  Loewenstein  were  there.  We  touched  the 
bomb  off.  It  blew  the  box  to  pieces,  fragments  earned  off  the 
branches  of  trees,  aud  the  ground  was  torn  up  for  a  great  dis- 
tance. This  black  dynamite,  also  found  in  Lingg's  room,  was 
put  in  a  beer  keg.  Part  of  this  dynamite  Lingg  gave  to  Thielen, 
and  this  is  a  fragment  of  a  round  bomb  I  experimented  with. 
On  top  of  this  bomb  I  had  a  round  piece  of  iron  thirty-four 
inches  wide,  some  heavy  planks,  a  piece  of  steel  forty-two  inches 
wide  and  weighing  180  pounds;  then  an  iron  boiler  twenty -two 
inches  wide  and  fourteen  inches  high;  then  on  top  of  that  a 
stone  weighing  132  pounds.  The  stone  was  burst  to  pieces,  nine 
holes  were  shot  through  the  iron  boiler,  the  steel  cover  was 
cracked,  and  the  planks  were  split  into  kindling  wood.  Por- 
tions of  the  other  bombs  I  cut  off,  and  gave  them  to  Profs. 
Haines  and  Paton." 

"There  were  bushels  of  bombs  before  the  jury.  Coils  of 
fuse  "was  unwound.  Dynamite  in  paj^er  packages  and  in  tin 
boxes  was  displayed.  The  court-room  looked  like  the  interior  of 
an  arsenal  so  far  as  the  tremendous  character  of  the  explosives 
were  concerned.  Pieces  of  metal,  gas-pipe,  tin  cans,  and  iron 
boxes  rattled  together.  Capt.  Schaack,  pointing  to  the  bombs, 
said  he  got  two  from  Hoffman,  one  from  fireman  Miller,  and  one 
from  Officer  Loewenstein.  He  was  not  allowed  to  tell  how 
many  bombs  in  all  he  received  until  the  officers  first  told  where 
the  bombs  were  found. 

"Now  about  those  conversations.  Did  Lingg  say  anything 
about  the  use  of  those  bombs  ( " 

11  He  said  he  intended  to  use  them  against  the  Gatling-guns 
of  the  militia ;  that  a  revolution  was  impending.  I  asked  him 
about  that  satchel  he  brought  to  Neff's  place.     He  said  he  saw 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  55 

one  there.  Then  I  asked  liim  where  he  got  the  moulds  to  mould 
the  round  bombs.  He  said  he  made  them  out  of  clay  ;  that  they 
could  be  used  about  two  times,  then  they  were  no  good.  He 
said  he  saw  the  '  Revenge '  circular  on  the  West  side.1' 

"Who  did  he  say  was  at  his  place  May  4  V — "He  said  about 
six  in  all,  but  he  only  knew  the  two  Lehmans." 

Capt.  Schaack  was  asked  by  Mr.  Ingham  whether  he  experi- 
mented with  fuse. 

"  I  did.  I  also  experimented  with  dynamite  cartridges.  I 
had  one  inserted  into  a  stone  weighing  perhaps  thirty  pounds. 
The  explosion  broke  this  stone  into  atoms.1' 

Cross-examined  by  Mr.  Foster. — "  What  Lingg  said  to  you, 
Captain,  was  substantially  this  :  That  there  was  to  be  a  conflict 
between  the  police  and  the  Gatling-guns  on  one  side  and  the 
laboring  men  on  the  other,  and  that  he  was  making  these  bombs 
to  use  wThen  that  time  came  ? " 

"  That's  about  it,  only  he  said  the  time  had  actually  come." 

"  Those  experiments  you  made  were  made  for  your  own  sat- 
isfaction ? " 

"  They  were  made  to  enable  me  to  testify  to  the  character  of 
the  stuff  that  was  found." 

"  As  a  matter  of  fact  you  woke  up  Engel  in  his  cell  after 
midnight  to  interrogate  him,  didn't  you  ? " 

"  Well,  I  don't  remember.  If  I  did,  I  did,  and  I  suppose  I 
did.     I  had  a  right  to  do  it." 

"  Do  you  know  of  two  detectives  at  your  station  who  went 
to  Lingg's  cell  late  at  night  and  exhibited  a  rope  saying  they 
were  going  to  hang  him  ?  " 

"  I  do  not,  and  I  do  not  believe  anything  of  the  kind  was 
done." 


56  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

Officer  Hoffman,  of  the  Larrabee  street  station.,  testified  that 
he  found  nine  round  bombs  and  four  long  ones  under  a  sidewalk 
near  Clyde  street  and  Clybourn  avenue. 

"  Who  was  with  you  at  the  time  ?  " — "  Gustav  Lehman." 

Under  John  Thielen's  house  the  witness  found  two  long 
bombs,  two  boxes  of  cartridges,  two  cigar  boxes  full  of  dyna- 
mite, one  rifle,  and  one  revolver. 

"  What  else  ? " — "  Lehman  pointed  out  to  me  a  can  holding 
about  a  gallon,  and  this  was  filled  with  dynamite." 

"  Look  at  this  box  of  caps.  Where  did  you  find  them  ? " — 
"  They  were  with  the  dynamite.  They  were  all  under  the  side- 
walk on  Clybourn  avenue,  back  of  Ogden's  grove." 

Assistant  State's-Attorney  Frank  Walker  opened  the  pro- 
ceedings Friday,  July  30,  by  reading  extracts  from  Parsons7 
Alarm,  dated  May  2d  of  this  year.  It  was  a  speech  delivered 
by  Parsons  April  29,  the  night  the  new  Board  of  Trade  was  ded- 
icated, and  that  occasion  afforded  the  speaker  his  subject.  The 
speech  was  full  of  rabid  utterances,  of  which  the  following  are 
samples  : 

"  To-night  the  property  owners  are  dedicating  a  temple  for 
the  plunder  of  the  people.  We  assemble  as  Anarchists  and 
Communists  to  protest  against  the  system  of  society  founded  on 
spoliation  of  the  people."  In  conclusion  Parsons  advised  his; 
hearers  to  save  their  money  and  buy  revolvers  and  rifles,  and 
recommended  the  use  of  dynamite. 

Under  date  of  December  26,  1885,  the  Alarm  contained  a 
long  description  of  what  qualities  should  center  in  a  revolution- 
ist. "  The  revolutionist,"  it  was  said,  "  must  dedicate  his  life  ex- 
clusively to  his  idea,  living  in  this  world  only  for  the  purpose  of 
more  surely  destroying  it.     He  hates  every  law  and  science,  and 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  57 

knows  of  but  one  science — that  of  destruction.  He  despises 
public  sentiment  and  social  morality.  All  his  sentiments  of 
friendship,  love  and  sympathy  must  be  suppressed.  Equally 
must  he  hate  everything  that  stands  in  the  way  to  the  attain- 
ment of  his  ends.  He  must  have  but  one  thought — merciless 
revolution  ;  he  must  be  bound  by  no  ties,  and  must  not  hesitate 
to  destroy  all  institutions  and  systems.11 

On  February  6,  1886,  the  Alarm  paid  its  respects  to  Cap 
tain  Bonfield,  and  the  attention  of  the  revolutionists  was  called 
to  the  clubbing  done  by  the  police  at  the  time  of  the  car-men's 
strike,  by  saying :  "  American  sovereigns,  if  you  don't  like  this, 
get  guns  or  dynamite." 

The  names  of  those  appointed  to  act  as  a  bureau  of  informa- 
tion for  the  Anarchists  were  printed  in  the  Alarm  under  date 
January  9,  1886.  Joseph  Bock,  B.  Ran,  August  Spies,  A.  R. 
Parsons  and  Anton  Hirschberger  were  the  names  given.  On 
March  20,  1886,  the  Alarm  said:  "All  argument  is  no  good 
unless  based  on  force." 

On  another  occasion,  speaking  of  the  eight  hour  movement* 
it  was  said  :  "  All  roads  lead  to  Rome  ;  so  must  all  labor  move- 
ments lead  to  Socialism."  Later  the  Alarm  said:  "  One  pound 
of  dynamite  is  better  than  a  bushel  of  ballots.  Working  men, 
to  arms!  Death  to  luxurious  idleness!"  All  articles  from 
which  these  extracts  were  taken  had  Parsons'  name  appended  as 
the  writer.  April  24,  the  date  of  the  last  issue  of  the  Alarmy 
the  Knights  of  Labor  were  assailed  "  for  attempting  to  prevent 
the  people  from  exterminating  the  predatory  beasts — the  capi- 
talists." Mr.  Ingham  reads  from  Herr  Host's  book  a  descrip- 
tion of  an  infernal  machine  to  burn  down  buildings.  This  appa- 
ratus is  described  as  of  wonderful  efficiency  and  dirt  cheap.     It 


58  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

is  read  to  secure  the  admission  as  evidence  of  the  four  tin  boxes 
spoken  of  by  Detective  Jansen,  who  saw  them  exhibited  at  54 
West  Lake  street. 

The  Court  is  not  sure  the  contents  in  both  cases  are  the  same, 
and  Officer  Coughlin,  of  the  Chicago  avenue  station,  is  put  on 
the  stand  to  prove  the  character  of  the  compound.  He  experi- 
mented with  one  can  by  means  of  a  fulminating  cap.  He  tried 
to  explode  the  can  but  failed,  then  he  attached  a  fuse  and  an  ex- 
plosion followed.  A  quantity  of  burning  liquid,  much  resemb 
linor  vitriol,  was  distributed  in  all  directions,  a  stream  was  thrown 
five  or  six  feet  high,  and  for  a  space  of  ten  feet  in  all  directions 
the  grass  was  set  on  fire,  and  it  burned  for  fully  five  minutes. 

Charles  B.  Prouty  is  called.  He  was  formerly  manager  of  a 
gun  store  on  State  street. 

"Have  you  ever  seen  any  of  the  defendants  before?" — "I 
have  seen  Engel  and  Parsons." 

"When  did  you  converse  with  Engel  last,  before  May  4?" 
— "  Some  time  last  fall.  Mr.  Engel  and  his  wife  called  at  the 
store  and  inquired  for  some  big  revolvers.  They  found  one  that 
suited  them,  to  present  to  some  society.  They  said  they  wanted 
100  or  200  for  this  society.  A  week  later  they  said  this  revol- 
ver would  do  and  they  wanted  some  200  revolvers.  I  told  them 
I  thought  I  could  get  them,  but  when  they  came  back  the  second 
time  I  found  I  couldn't.  They  were  much  disappointed  and 
said  they  would  go  some  place  else." 

"What  was  the  price  ?" — "I  think  $5.50.  They  were  either 
44  or  45  calibre  revolvers." 

"  What  did  you  say  about  the  price  ?  " — "  I  told  them  that 
was  very  cheap  and  said  they  could  make  a  handsome  profit  on 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  r,0 

theni.  Tliey  said  they  didn't  want  to  make  any  profit;  that  the 
weapons  were  for  a  society." 

Captain  Black,  on  the  cross-examination,  brings  it  out  that 
the  witness  sold  the  gun  to  Engel,  thinking  he  wanted  to  go  into 
some  speculation. 

W.  J.  Reynolds,  also  in  the  gun  business  at  73  State  street, 
has  seen  Parsons,  and  he  thinks^ Engel. 

"  When  did  you  see  Parsons  relative  to  your  buisness,  and 
tell  what  it  was?" 

"  I  think  it  was  in  February  or  March.  He  came  into  the 
store  and  "wanted  to  purchase  about  forty  remodeled  Remington 
guns.  Parsons  spoke  to  me  several  times  about  this  purchase, 
but  it  was  never  made.     Parsons  seemed  undecided." 

"  State  whether  your  concern  ever  sold  any  rifle  or  revolver 
cartridges,  which  were  to  be  delivered,  and  were  delivered,  at 
636  Milwaukee  avenue — Thalia  hall?1' 

This  question  is  overruled  by  the  court  unless  the  cartridges 
were  delivered  by  the  witness  in  person.  Capt.  Black  takes  the 
witness  in  hand  and  he  said  he  never  knew  Parsons  by  name  un- 
til yesterday,  then  that  person  was  pointed  out  to  him  in  court. 

"That's  all,"  says  Capt.  Black. — "Mr.  Reynolds,"  says  Mr. 
Grinnell,  "  was  Parsons  pointed  out  to  you,  or  did  you  not  point 
out  the  man  you  had  seen  before  \ " 

"  I  pointed  out  the  man  I  had  seen  before." 

A  manuscript  in  Spies1  handwriting  is  offered  in  evidence. 
It  is  a  manuscript  of  an  editorial  which  was  printed  in  the  Ar- 
belter  Zeitung  of  May  4  and  captioned  :  "  Blood  and  Powder  as 
a  Cure  for  Dissatisfied  Working  Men."  In  another  part  of  the 
paper  was  the  following  :  "  This  evening  there  is  a  great  meet- 
ing at  the  Haymarket.     No  working  men  ought  to  stay  away." 


60  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

Manuscript  in  Schwab's  handwriting  is  submitted.  This 
matter  appeared  in  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  May  4,  and  one  passage 
is  as  follows  :  "  The  heroes  of  the  club  dispensed  with  their 
cudgels  yesterday."  This  has  reference  to  the  riot  at  McCor- 
rnick's. 

Another  extract ;  "  Reports  of  the  capitalist  papers  have  all 
been  dictated  by  the  police."  Still  another :  "  The  armory  on 
the  Lake  front  is  guarded  by  military  tramps."  And  another  : 
"  Milwaukee,  usually  so  quiet,  yesterday  became  the  scene  of 
quite  a  number  of  labor  riots."  Under  date  of  May  3,  Spies' 
paper  said :  "A  hot  conflict.  The  termination  of  the  radical 
elements  bring  the  extortioners  in  numerous  instances  to  terms." 
January  5,  1885,  Spies  wrote  concerning  a  report  of  a  meeting 
at  54  West  Lake  street :  "  Comrade  Spies,  in  the  course  of  his 
speech  said  :  '  And  if  we  commence  to  murder  we  obey  the  law 
of  necessity  for  self-preservation.'  ''  January  19,  1885,  the  Ar- 
Ix  iter  Zeitung  contained  a  two  column  report  of  a  meeting  held 
at  Mueller's  hall.  Dynamite,  blood  and  bombs  were  the  nice 
points  dealt  with,  and  the  comments  thereon  was  what  the  state 
wanted  read.  But  first  a  translation  should  have  been  made, 
and  to  do  this  an  adjournment  is  taken  until  2  o'clock. 

As  the  trial  progressed  public  interest  in  the  development  of 
the  Anarchist  plot  to  overthrow  law  and  order  increased.  The 
courtroom  would  not  hold  half  of  the  people  that  applied  for  ad- 
mission, and  hundreds  were  turned  away.  Scattered  throughout 
the  courtroom  were  numerous  red  flags  and  banners  of  the  Lehr 
und  Welir  Verein  and  the  various  Anarchist  groups.  Detective 
James  Bonfield  was  recalled  to  identify  the  flags  and  banners 
found  at  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  office.  They  were  as  follows : 
"  In  the  Absence  of  Law  all  Men  are  Free ;  "  "  Every  Govern- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  61 

ment  is  a  Conspiracy  against  the  People ; "  "  Down  with  all 
Laws ; "  "  Fifteenth  Section  Boys  Stick  together ;  "  "  Proletarians 
of  all  Countries,  unite  ;"  "International  Working  People's  Asso- 
ciation of  Chicago.  Presented  by  the  Socialistic  Women's  Soci- 
ety July  16,  1875." 

Saturday,  July  81,  the  state  introduced  more  translations 
from  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung.  The  paper  of  January  6,  under  the 
caption  of  "  A  New  Military  Law,"  contained  the  following  edi- 
torials :  "  After  the  adoption  of  the  law  and  its  working  we 
have  learned  a  lesson.  The  vote  of  1881  has  shown  that  we  are 
stronger  than  ever.  There  exists  to-day  an  invisible  network  of 
Socialistic  forces.     We  are  stronger  than  ever." 

On  January  22,  1886,  an  editorial  asked:  "  How  can  the 
eight-hour  day  be  brought  about  ?  Why,  every  clear-headed 
man  can  see  that  the  result  can  be  obtained  by  no  other  means 
than  armed  force." 

The  next  day  it  was  said  :  "  The  rottenness  of  our  social  in- 
stitutions cannot  be  covered  up  with  whitewash.  Capital  sucks 
its  force  out  of  the  labor  of  the  working  men.  The  misery  has 
become  unbearable.  Let  us  not  treat  with  our  enemies  on  May 
1.  Therefore,  comrades,  arm  to  the  teeth.  We  wTant  to  demand 
our  rights  on  May  1." 

Regarding  the  riot  in  London,  a  meeting  was  held  at  the 
Twelfth  street  Turner  hall,  Neebe  presiding ;  Fielden  the  orator, 
and  his  speech  and  the  proceedings  were  reported  under  date  of 
February  15.  Fielden  said:  "The  time  is  not  so  far  distant 
when  the  down-trodden  in  Chicago  will  rise  like  their  brothers 
in  London,  and  march  up  Michigan  avenue,  the  red  flag  at  their 
head.1'  Schwab  spoke,  calling  on  the  people  to  rally  around  the 
red    flag    of   revolution.     An    editorial    on    February  17   said: 


62  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

"  Hundreds  and  thousands  of  reasons  indicate  that  force  will 
bring  about  a  successful  termination  in  the  struggle  for  liberty." 
April  10  it  was  said  :  "What  happened  yesterday  in  East  St. 
Louis  may  happen  in  Chicago.  It  is  high  time  to  be  prepared 
to  complete  the  ammunition  and  be  ready." 

On  April  22  Spies  wrote  :  "  Working  men,  arm  yourselves. 
May  1  is  close  at  hand."  Six  days  later  he  said  :  "What  An- 
archists predicted  six  months  ago  has  been  realized  now.  The 
power  of  the  manufacturers  must  be  met  with  armed  working 
men.  The  logic  of  facts  requires  this.  Arms  are  more  neces- 
sary now  than  ever.  It  is  time  to  arm  yourselves.  Whoever 
has  not  money  sell  your  watch  and  buy  firearms.  Patience  has 
been  preached — the  working  men  have  had  too  much  of  pa- 
tience." 

On  April  29  Spies  wrote:  "The  wage  slave  who  is  not  ut- 
terly demoralized  should  have  a  breech-loader  in  his  house." 
And  the  next  day  he  said :  "  As  we  have  been  informed  the 
police  have  received  secret  orders  to  keep  themselves  in  readiness 
for  fear  of  a  riot  on  Saturday  next,  to  the  working  men  we  again 
say  :  Arm  yourselves !  Keep  your  arms  hidden  so  that  they 
will  not  be  stolen  by  the  minions  of  the  law,  as  has  happened 
before."  In  the  Letter  Box  was  the  following  :  "  A  dynamite 
cartridge  explodes  not  through  concussion.  A  percussion  primer 
is  necessary.'" 

January  5,  in  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung,  a  report  said:  "The 
meeting  which  the  American  group  held  at  54  West  Lake  street 
was  one  of  the  best  meetings  ever  held  in  Chicago.  Comrade 
Spies  said :  '  When  we  murder  we  put  an  end  to  general  mur- 
der.    We  only  follow  the  law  of  self-preservation.'  " 

On  January  18  all  working  men  were   called   to   attend  a 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  G3 

meeting  at  Steinmetz  hall.  'To  Arms,"  was  the  caption. 
"Those  who  desire  instruction  in  drilling  will  not  have  to  pay." 
At  Mueller's  hall,  a  few  days  later,  Schwab  made  an  address, 
saying :  "  We  have  made  all  preparations  for  a  revolution  by 
force."  Spies -said:  "I  have  been  accused  by  a  paper  that  I 
tried  to  stir  up  a  revolution.  I  concede  this.  What  is  crime, 
anyhow  ?  When  the  working  men  try  to  secure  the  fruits  of 
their  labor  it  is  called  crime." 

Guns,  dynamite  and  prussic  acid,  Spies  preached,  should  be 
given  the  working  men,  and  "  for  every  clubbed  head  in  the 
ranks  of  the  workingmen  there  should  be  exacted  twelve  dead 
policemen."  In  a  long  discourse  on  the  means  of  action,  Spies 
said  :  "  In  the  action  itself  one  .must  be  personally  at  the  place, 
to  select  personally  that  point  of  the  place  of  action  which  is  the 
most  important,  and  is  coupled  with  the  greatest  danger,  upon 
which  depends  chiefly  the  success  or  failure  of  the  whole  affair. 
Otherwise  the  thing  would  reach  the  long  ears  of  the  police, 
which,  as  is  known  to  every  one,  hear  the  grass  grow  and  the 
fleas  cough ;  but  if  this  theory  is  acted  on,  the  danger  of  discov- 
ery is  extremely  small."  "  The  Love  of  Self-Sacrifice,"  as  mani- 
fested by  those  who  were  killed  during  the  uprising  of  the  Paris 
Commune,  while  fighting  under  the  red  flag,  was  the  subject  of 
a  long  address  on  March  22,  aid  March  23  it  was  said  the  ques- 
tion of  arming  was  the  one  uppermost  in  labor  circles.  Work- 
ing men,  it  was  held,  ought  to  be  armed  long  ago.  Daggers  and 
revolvers  were  easily  purchased;  hand-grenades  were  plenti- 
ful, and  so  was  dynamite.  The  approaching  contest  should  not 
be  gone  into  with  empty  hands. 

The  State  here  rested  its  case. 


64  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

UNDER    A     CLOUD.         A    STRUGGLE   FOR    LIFE.         CONTESTING    EVERY 

POINT   BY   SHREWD    COUNSEL.       BRAVING    IT   OUT. 

THE    DEFENSE. 

Attorney  Zeisler  moved  to  have  the  jury  sent  from  the  ro  3m 
pending  a  motion,  and  this  the  Court  refused  to  do,  saying  it 
was  a  vicious  practice,  and  that  the  jury  should  hear  all  there 
was  in  a  case. 

Capt.  Black — "  The  motion  we  desire  to  make  is  that  your 
Honor  now  instruct  the  jury,  the  State  having  rested,  that  they 
find  a  verdict  of  not  guilty  as  to  Oscar  Neebe ;  and  we  desire  to 
argue  that  motion." 

Counsel  for  the  defense  proceeded  to  argue  the  motion,  and 
held  that  Neebe  was  not  amenable ;  not  having  been  present  at 
the  Haymarket,  and  having  nothing  to  do  with  the  Arbeiter 
Ze  it  ling  until  after  the  arrest  of  Spies. 

The  Court — "  If  he  had  had  prior  knowledge  of  the  partici- 
pation in  the  Haymarket  meeting  the  question  would  be  quite 
different,  but  if  there  is  a  general  advice  to  commit  murder,  and 
the  time  and  occasion  not  being  forseen,  the  adviser  is  guilty  if 
the  murder  is  committed.  Whether  he  did  participate,  con- 
curred, assented,  or  encouraged  the  publication  of  the  Arbeiter 
Zeitung  is  a  question  for  this  jury  upon  the  testimony  that  he 
was  frequently  there,  and  that  so  soon  as  Schwab  and  Spies  were 
away  he  took  charge.  Everything  in  which  his  name  has  been 
mentioned  must  be  taken  together,  and  then  what  the  proper  in- 
ference is,  is  for  the  jury  to  say." 

Capt.  Black — "  Does  your  Honor  overrule  the  motion  ? " — 
The  Court — "  I  overrule  the  motion." 

Capt.  Black — "  We  except,  if  your  Honor  pleases.     We  de- 


COUNSEL  FOR  DEFENDANTS. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  65 

sire  also  to  make  a  like  motion,  without  arguing  it,  in  behalf  of 
all  tha  defendants  except  Spies  and  Fischer." — Motion  over- 
ruled. 

Mr.  Salomon  then  began  the  opening  argument  for  the  de- 
fense.    There  were  two  leading  points  in  his  argument : 

1.  There  connot  be  accessories  without  a  principal.  The 
state  must  prove  that  somebody  was  a  principal  in  committing 
murder  before  it  can  convict  others  as  accessories. 

2.  The  defendants  did  not  throw  the  bomb ;  therefore  they 
are  not  guilty. 

"  True,  the  defendants  made  bombs ;  true,  they  intended  to 
use  dynamite.  What  if  they  did  ? "  asks  Mr.  Salomon.  "  They 
were  preparing  for  a  revolution  by  force  of  arms  and  by  means 
of  dynamite — but  what  has  that  to  do  with  the  case  ?  Did  they 
kill  Matthias  J.  Degan,  for  which  act  they  were  specifically  in- 
dicted ?     That  is  the  question." 

Mr.  Salomon  then  argued  that  the  State  would  have  to  prove 
that  the  object  of  the  Haymarket  meeting  was  to  "aggressively 
kill  the  police."  He  pointed  out  that  the  defendants  had  conse- 
crated their  lives  to  the  benefit  of  their  fellow  men.  They  did 
not  seek  McCormick's  property  for  themselves — they  did  not 
want  the  goods  in  Marshall  Field's  store  for  themselves.  Their 
methods  were  dangerous,  but  why  were  they  not  stopped  at  in 
ception  ?  They  advocated  force,  because  they  believed  in  force 
No  twelve  men — no  12,000  men — could  root  out  Anarchy.  An 
archy  is  of  the  head — it  is  implanted  in  the  soul !  As  well  at 
tempt  to  root  out  Republicanism  or  Democracy !  They  in 
tended  revolution — a  revolution  similar  to  that  of  the  Northern 
states  against  slavery,  or  of  America  against  British  oppression. 
They  wanted   to  free  the  white   slaves — the  working   classes. 


66  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

They  intended  to  use  dynamite  in  furtherance  of  that  revolution. 
But  they  did  not  expect,  nor  did  they  conspire  to  take,  the  life 
of  officer  Degan  Lmgg  had  the  right  to  manufacture  bombs 
and  fill  his  house  with  dynamite,  if  he  so  pleased.  There  was 
no  law  against  it.  Mr.  Salomon  intimated  that  an  attempt 
would  be  made  to  show  who  threw  the  bomb,  or  that  it  was 
thrown  by  somebody  other  than  Schnaubelt ;  also  that  the  police 
began  the  riot  by  shooting  into  the  crowd  ;  that  Schwab  was  not 
at  the  meeting  at  all,  and  that  when  the  bomb  exploded  Parsons 
and  Fischer  were  in  Zephfs  hall  drinking  beer. 

"We  expect  further  to  show  you,"  said  Mr.  Salomon,  "that 
this  meeting  had  assembled  peaceably,  that  its  objects  were 
peaceable,  that  they  delivered  the  same  harangues,  that  the 
crowd  listened  quietly,  that  not  a  single  act  transpired  there  pre- 
vious to  the  coming  of  the  police,  for  which  any  man  in  it  could 
be  held  amenable  to  law.  They  assembled  there  under  the  pro- 
visions of  our  Constitution  in  the  exercise  of  their  right  of  free 
speech,  to  discuss  the  situation  of  the  working  men,  to  discuss 
the  eight-hour  question.  They  assembled  there  and  incidentally 
discussed  what  they  called  the  outrages  perpetrated  at  McCor- 
mick's.  No  man  expected  that  bomb  would  be  thrown,  no  man 
expected  that  any  one  would  be  injured  at  that  meeting." 

The  witness  who  gave,  perhaps,  the  strongest  evidence  for 
the  defense  was  Dr.  James  D.  Taylor,  an  aged  physician  of  the 
Eclectic  school.  On  the  direct  examination,  Captain  Black 
asked : 

"  How  old  are  you ? "  Answer — "I  am  seventy-six  years  of 
age." 

"  Where  were  you  on  May  4,  in  the  evening  ? " — "  At  the 
Haymarket." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  67 

"Tell  us  when  you  reached  the  Haymarket." — "About 
twenty  minutes  before  the  speaking  commenced." 

"During  that  twenty  minutes  where  were  you?" — "I  was 
standing  in  the  alley — Crane's  alley — near  Desplaines  street." 

"How  near  to  the  west  edge  of  the  sidewalk?" — "Very 
close  to  it." 

"  How  long  did  you  occupy  that  position  ?  " — "  As  long  as 
the  bullets  would  let  me." 

"  How  long  was  that  ? "  asks  Mr.  Grinnell. — "  I  was  the  last 
man  that  left  the  alley  after  the  bomb  exploded." 

"  Did  you  hear  the  speeches  at  the  Haymarket  ? " — "  Oh,  yes ; 
distinctly." 

"  What  did  Spies  say  ? " — "  He  spoke  about  Jay  Gould,  and 
some  one  said :  '  Hang  him,'  and  Spies  said  :  '  No,  it  is  not 
time  for  that.' " 

'  What  did  Parsons  say  ? " — "  He  spoke  of  the  necessity  for 
union.  The  substance  of  his  remarks  was  that  if  the  working 
men  expected  to  win  they  must  unite." 

"  Did  you  notice  the  approach  of  the  police  ? " — "  I  did ;  the 
first  column  came  up  close  to  where  I  was  standing.  They  were 
so  close  I  could  touch  them." 

"Did  you  hear  Fielden?"— "Yes." 

"  What  did  he  say?" — "Well,  he  spoke  about  the  law,  and 
said  :  '  It  is  your  enemy.  Kill  it,  stab  it,  throttle  it ;  if  you 
don't,  it  will  throttle  you.' " 

"  Did  you  hear  the  command  given  to  disperse  ?  ' — "  Yes, 
sir." 

"What  did  Fielden  say  ?" — "  He  said  .  'We  are  peaceable,' 
or  'This  is  a  peaceable  meeting.'  " 

"Did  you  see  Fielden  again  ?  " — "I  did.     He  got  down  out 


68  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

of  the  wagon  and  came  around  where  I  was  standing." 

"Did  you  see  him  with  a  revolver? " — "  I  did  not." 

"Did  you  see  him  shoot  at  all  ?  " — "Never.     I  did  not." 

"  Did  you  see  the  bomb  ? "— "  I  did." 

"  Where  did  it  come  from  ? " — "  About  twenty  feet,  or  per- 
haps forty,  south  of  the  alley,  behind  some  boxes  on  the  side- 
walk." 

"Now,  tell  what  you  saw." — "Well,  the  bomb  looked  to  me 
like  a  boy's  firecracker.  It  was  then  about  five  feet  in  the  air. 
It  circled  in  a  southeast  direction,  and  fell,  I  think,  between  the 
first  and  second  columns  of  the  police." 

"When  did  the  shooting  commence?" — "Almost  simultane- 
ously." 

"  Did  the  firing  proceed  frrom  the  crowd,  or  the  police  ?  " — 
"  It  came  from  the  street,  near  where  the  police  were." 

"  Did  you  see  or  hear  of  any  pistol  shots  from  the  crowd  ?  " 
— "  Not  one." 

"You  say  you  went  to  the  Haymarket  the  next  morning. 
Did  you  make  any  examination  of  the  neighborhood  ?  " — "  I 
did." 

"  D.d  you  find  any  marks  of  bullets  in  the  walls  around 
there  ?  "--"  Yes,  a  great  many.  They  were  in  the  north  end  of 
the  wall  of  Crane  Bros.'  building.  Then  I  examined  a  telegraph 
pole  north  of  the  alley,  on  the  west  side  of  the  street.  There 
were  a  great  many  perforations  on  the  south  side  of  this  pole." 

"  Were  there  any  perforations  on  the  north  side  of  the  pole  ? " 
— "  Not  one." 

"  Did  you  visit  the  place  a  second  time  ?  " — "  I  did." 

"  For  the  purpose  of  examining  this  telegraph  pole  ? " — 
Yes,  sir." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  69 

"  Tell  the  jury  whether  you  found  the  pole  there  or  not." — 
"  It  was  not  there." 

"How  long  ago  was  that  ?" — "A  week." 

"  And  the  pole  was  gone  ?  " — "  It  was  gone." 

"  What  course  did  you  take,  doctor,  in  going  out  of  the  al- 
ley ? " — "  I  took  a  zig-zag  course." 

"  Doctor,  are  you  a  Socialist  ?  " — "  Yes,  sir." 

"Are  you  an  Anarchist?  " — "Not  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
term  is  usually  employed." 

"  How  long  have  you  been  a  Socialist  ? " — "  About  fifty 
years.  I  was  taught  Socialism  by  Robert  Owen,  father  of  Rob- 
ert Dale  Owen." 

"  Do  you  know  any  of  the  defendants  ?  " — "  Yes.  I  know 
Parsons  and  Fielden  well;  Spies  and  Neebe  slightly." 

"  Have  you  ever  taken  part  in  Socialistic  meetings  ?  " — Yes. 
I  have  spoken  at  meetings  controversially.  ' 

"Are  you,  or  were  you,  a  member  of  the  International 
Working  Men's  Society  ? "— "  I  was." 

"  For  how  long  ? " — "  Well,  I  continued  a  member  until  the 
organization  was  abandoned." 

"  WHiat  group  were  you  a' member  of  ? " — "  Of  the  American 
group." 

"  Wrhere  did  you  attend  meetings  ?  " — "  At  Greif ' s  hall." 

"  What  were  the  conditions  of  membership  \  Tell  the  jury 
whether  those  meetings  were  secret  or  public." — "They  were 
public.  The  conditions  of  membership  were — "  This  answer 
was  objected  to  by  the  State,  and  the  Court  sustains  the  objec 
tion. 

"  How  long  have  you  been  a  member  of  the  American 
group  ?  " — "I  think  a  year,  or  a  little  more." 


70  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

" How  often  have  you  met  Parsons  and  Fielden?" — "They 
have  not  been  regular  in  their  attendance." 

"Now,  taking  them  in  their  order,  will  you  state  what  you 
heard  them  say,  either  on  the  Lake  front  or  at  any  hall,  regard- 
ing the  use  of  force  ?  "     Captain  Black  withdraws  this  question 
at  once  upon  consultation  with  his  associates- 
Mr.  Ingham  then  took  up  the   cross-examination:     "How 
did  you  come  to  go  to  the  Haymarket,  doctor  ? " — "  I  happened 
to  be  in  the  neighborhood,  taking  my  usual  evening  walk." 
"Did  you  see  any  circular  ?  " — "I  did  not." 
"  How  did  you  come    to   attend   the   meeting,  then  ? " — "  I 
saw  a  great  many  people,  who   told    me   there  was   to   be   a 
meeting." 

"  Did  you  go  at  once  to  the  alley  ? "— "  I  did." 
"  Are  you  sure  you  did  not  stop  on  the  Haymarket? " — "  I  am 
sure  I  did  not." 

"  Why,  then,  did  you  go  in  the  alley  \ " — "  To  hear  what  was 
to  be  said." 

"  What  time  did  you  get  there  ? "— "  A  little  after  7  o'clock." 
"  And  you  stopped  there  all  the  time  ? " — "  Yes." 
"  How  long  did  you  wait  ?  " — "About  twenty  minutes." 
"  Then  the  meeting  was  opened  ?  " — "  It  was." 
"And  you  listened  to  Spies?"— "Yes." 
"What  did  he  say?" — "The  substance  of  what  he  said  was 
that  the  men  had  better  go  home,  and  not  do  any  violence." 

(The  witness  confounds  Spies  and  Parsons.  The  former, 
according  to  other  witnesses,  made  no  reference  to  Jay  Gould, 
but  Parsons  did.  The  doctor  said  also  that  Parsons  told  the 
men  that  the  history  of  strikes  showed  all  strikes  to  have  proved 
a  failure ;  that  what  was  wanted  was  a  change  in  the  system.) 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  71 

"  Did  you  see  Fielden  all  the  time  lie  was  speaking  ? " — "  I 
did." 

"  And  lie  had  no  revolver  ? " — "  He  had  not." 

'■  Did  you  keep  your  eye  on  him  all  the  time  ?  " — "  Every 
minute." 

"You  did  not  take  your  eye  off  him  for  a  single  minute?" — 
"Not  half  a  minute." 

"And  you  saw  him  just  as  he  closed  his  speech?" — "I  did. 
He  got  down  out  of  the  wagon  and  was  standing  close  to  me." 

"  Where  did  he  go  after  the  bomb  exploded  ?  " — "The  Lord 
only  knows  what  became  of  him.  The  demoralization  was  so 
great  that  I  don't  know.  I  think  he  was  one  of  the  first  men  to 
go  down  after  the  shell  exploded." 

"  Well,  how  long  did  you  remain  there  ? '' — "  I  was  the  last 
man  to  go  up  the  alley.     There  was  a  great  crowd  ahead  of  me." 

"  Were  the  bullets  thick  ? "— "  W^ell,  I  should  say  they  were." 

"  Yet  you  didn't  run  ? " — "  Well,  I  am  an  old  man,  and  I 
don't  care  much." 

"  What  did  you  do  next,  after  leaving  the  alley  ? " — "  I  went 
farther  down  in  the  alley.  I  was  the  last  man  to  go  down  the 
alley.  There  was  a  projection  in  the  alley  and  I  took  refuge  be- 
hind that." 

"You  were  young  enough  then  to  want  to  live?" — "It 
wasn't  that;  I  heard  the  police  shooting.  They  were  going  back 
toward  the  Haymarket.  I  could  tell  that  by  the  report  of  the 
shooting.  Then  I  ran  out  on  Desplaines  street  and  dodged 
about  till  I  got  home. ' 

"Where  did  you  dodge?" — "A  good  many  places.  The 
police  were  shooting  all  over.  They  were  all  excited.  I  saw 
them  shooting  as  far  up  as  Madison  street.     One  policeman  on 


72  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

Madison  street  I  saw  point  his  revolver  at  a  crowd  of  people  on 
the  street  and  say :  '  D —  you  !  you've  got  to  die  any  way.' 
Then  he  fired  his  revolver  at  them." 

"  You  say  you  saw  the  bomb  when  it  was  about  five  feet  in 
the  air  ?  "— "  Yes." 

"  Did  yon  see  the  fuse  ? " — "  Yes." 

"  What  kind  of  a  bomb  was  it  ? "— "  Round." 

"  What  happened  after  it  exploded  ? " — "  The  demoralization 
was  great." 

"  Did  you  hear  any  groans?" — "No." 

"How  long  have  you  been  a  physician?" — "Forty  years." 

"  What  school  ? "— "  Eclectic." 

"  Are  you  a  graduate  of  any  college  ?  " — "  Yes  ;  Eclectic." 

"  You  say  you  are  a  Socialist,  but  not  an  Anarchist  as  it  is 
commonly  defined.     Are  you  an  Anarchist  as  you  understand 
that  term  ?  " — "  I  am." 
"  Do  you  believe  in  an  oath  ?  " — "  I  do." 

"  Do  you  believe  that  an  oath  adds  anything  to  the  obliga 
tion  to  tell  the  truth  ?  " — "  No.  All  honest  men  should  tell  the 
truth." 

"  That's  all." 

L.  M.  Moses,  a  grocer,  and  Austin  Mitchell,  who  lived  with 
Moses,  testified  that  they  would  not  believe  the  witness  Gilmer 
under  oath.  The  defense  then  introduced  August  Krumm,  of 
103G  West  Twentieth  street,  a  woodworker,  by  whom  they  ex- 
pected to  entirely  offset  Gilmer's  evidence.  From  his  evidence 
it  was  made  to  appear  that  Gilmer  mistook  Krumm  for  Spies, 
and  that  instead  of  lighting  a  bomb  Krumm  was  engaged  in 
nothing  more  harmful  than  lighting  a  pipe  of  tobacco.  Mr.  Fos- 
ter conducts  the  examination,  and  the  witness  says  he  was  at  the 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  78 

Haymarket  meeting  May  4,  and  saw  Spies  and  Parsons  there  for 
the  first  time. 

"  How  did  you  come  to  go  there  ?  " — "  I  had  business  down 
town  ;  heard  of  the  meeting  and  went  there  with  a  friend,  A.  M. 
Albright." 

"  Now,  how  close  to  the  alley  near  Crane  Brothers  did  you 
stand  ?  " — "  Very  close.  We  stood  there  all  the  time  from  about 
9.30  o'clock  until  the  police  arrived." 

"  Did  you  stand  there  all  the  time  ? " — "  No  ;  we  were  gone 
for  a  minute  or  two." 

"  Where  did  you  go  ? " — "  We  went  into  the  alley.  I 
wanted  to  light  my  pipe.  Albright  came  with  me.  He  gave 
me  a  pipeful  of  tobacco  and  I  went  into  the  alley  to  light  my 
pipe." 

"  What  did  you  go  into  the  alley  for  ?  " — "  There  was  a  wind 
on  the  street,  and  we  went  into  the  alley  so  the  match  would 
not  go  out." 

"  And  Albright  followed  you  ?  " — "  Yes.  He  came  to  light 
his  pipe." 

"  Whose  pipe  was  lighted  first  ? " — "  Mine." 

"Then  his  pipe  was  lighted? " — "Yes.  He  came  over  to  me 
and  lit  his  pipe  from  the  match  that  lit  my  pipe,  holding  his 
head  up  close  to  mine." 

"  After  you  came  out  of  the  alley  what  did  you  see  ? " — 
"  The  police  were  there ;  then  the  explosion  followed." 

"  Did  you  see  Spies  go  into  the  alley  ? " — "  I  did  not." 

"Did  you  see  anybody  in  the  alley?" — "Yes.  There  were 
two  or  three  men  there,  but  I  could  not  tell  who  they  were.  It 
was  dark." 


J4  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

"  Did  anybody  come  into  the  alley  while  you  were  there  ? " 
—"No." 

"  Could  anybody  pass  into  the  alley  without  your  knowing 
it?" — "No,  sir;  I  stood  up  close  to  the  building  while  I  was 
lighting  my  pipe." 

"Now,  tell  whether  you  saw  a  light  in  the  air  about  that 
time  or  a  little  after." — "Yes ;  I  saw  a  light  like  a  match  about 
twenty  feet  south  of  the  alley  on  Desplaines  street." 

Mr.  Grinnell  takes  the  witness  in  hand.  "  You  say  you 
came  down  town  on  business.  Who  did  you  want  to  see  ? " — 
"  A  friend  of  mine." 

"  Who  is  he  ? "— "  Adolph  Winness." 

"  Where  does  he  live  ? " — "  I  do  not  know." 

"  Where  does  he  work  ? " — "  I  don't  know  now." 

"  What  does  he  work  at  ? " — "  He  is  a  woodworker." 

"  How  did  you  expect  to  meet  him  then,  if  you  did  not  know 
where  he  lived  or  where  he  worked  ? " — "  He  told  me  I  could 
find  him  there." 

"  Find  him  where  ? "— "  On  Randolph  street." 

"  When  did  you  see  him  last  ? " — "  That  afternoon.  He  came 
out  to  see  me." 

"  And  he  did  not  tell  you  where  he  worked  ? " — "  No." 

"  Nor  where  he  stopped  ?  "— "  No." 

"  Yet  he  said  you  could  find  him  on  Randolph  street  ? " — 
"Yes." 

"  So  he  gave  you  the  idea  that  he  could  be  found  out  of 
doors,  did  he?" — "Well,  he's  around  Randolph  street  a  good 
deal." 

"Where  did  you  meet  Albright ?"—" In  the  alley." 

"  Near  Crane  Brothers  ?"—"  Yes." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  75 

"  What  did  you  say? "— "  I  said  :  <  Hello,  Albright/  and  he 
said :     '  Hello,  Krimiin.1 " 

"  What  else  ? " — "  Did  you  say  you  came  down  town  to  see  a 
friend?"— "Yes." 

"  Did  you  tell  him  the  name  of  your  friend  ? " — "  No." 

"  Who  was  speaking  then  ?  " — "  Parsons,  I  think." 

"Tell  what  he  said." — "He  said  something  about  Jay 
Gould." 

"What  did  Spies  say?" — "He  said:  'A  few  words  more, 
boys,  and  we'll  go  home.'  " 

"Spies  said  that,  did  he  ?"— "  Yes." 

"Which  man  is  Spies  ?"- -The  witness  confounds  the  men 
Asked  to  indicate  Spies  he  points  to  Fielden. 

"  How  did  you  stand  in  the  alley  when  the  speaking  was 
going  on?" — "I  had  my  back  to  the  north  wall." 

"Did  you  stand  that  way  all  the  time?" — "Yes,  except 
when  we  lit  our  pipes." 

"Then  did  you  stand  the  same  way  after  you  lighted  your 
pipes?"— "Yes." 

"  Then  how  could  you  see  these  men  if  you  had  your  backs 
to  the  wall?" — "  I  looked  over  my  head." 

"You  looked  over  your  head  all  the  time?" — "Yes,  when 
we  looked  at  the  speakers." 

"And  you  never  saw  these  men  before?" — "No." 

"Yet  from  that  point  in  the  alley,  the  speakers  eight  feet  or 
more  distant,  a  crowd  between  you,  you  looking  over  your 
shoulders  in  the  dark,  you  recognize  these  men  the  first  time  you 
saw  them  ? "— "  Yes." 

"  Where  were  the  police  when  Fielden  said.     '  Now,  a  word 


76  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

more  boys,  and  we  will  go  home  '  ? " — They  were  coming  up 

Desplaines  street." 

"  Where  was  Spies  then  ?" — "  I  don't  know.    I  don't  remem- 
ber.11 

"Well,  didn't  you  see  Spies  on  the  wagon?" — "Yes." 
"When?" — "I  don't  think  now.     Early  in  the  evening,  I 

think." 

'•  Now,  when  you  were  talking  to  Albright,  did  you  talk 

about  what  the  speakers  were  saying?" — "  No." 

"Did  you  talk  about  the  eight-hour  question?" — "No." 
"What  were  you  talking  about?" — "  About  the  shop." 
"  Now,  where  did  you  see  the  bomb  ?" — "It  was  about  ten 

feet  in  the  air,  about  twenty  feet  south  of  the  alley.     I  didn't 

see  it  explode." 

"  No,  of  course  not.     It  was  too  far  south." 

"  There  then  was  some  boxes  on  the  sidewalk,  and  you 

couldn't  see?" — k'I  did  not  say  there  were  any  boxes  on  the 

sidewalk." 

"  Yes,  but  if  there  were  any  boxes  there  you  would  have 

seen  them  ?" — "  Yes.    I  would  have  seen  them  if  they  had  been 

on  the  sidewalk." 

"And  you  did  not  see  them  there?" — "I  did  not." 

(All  the  other  witnesses  for  the  defense  testified  that  a  big 

pile  of  boxes  stood  on  the  sidewalk  between  the  alley  and  a 

point  where  the  bomb  exploded.) 

"  And  you  say  you  did  not  see  those  boxes  ?" — "  I  did  not." 
"  When  were  you  at  the  Haymarket?" — "May  4." 
"Were  you  ever  there  in  your  life?" — "Yes." 
"  How  about  a  lamp  post.     Did  you  see  one  ?" — "  I  don't 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  77 

remember  now,  but  I  know  there  is  one  at  the  southeast  corner 
of  the  alley." 

"  How  do  you  know  this  ? " — "  I  worked  at  the  corner  of 
Randolph  and  Jefferson  streets  for  ten  years,  and  remember  it.'4 

"How  long  ago  was  that?" — "Seven  years  ago." 

"And  you  can  remember  that  a  lamp  post  stood  at  the 
southeast  corner  of  the  alley  after  the  lapse  of  seven  years  ? " — "  I 
can." 

"  Where  is  your  wife  now  ? " — "  Living  on  Sedgwick  street.'1 

"  Whereabouts  ? " — "  I  don't  know-  I  have  not  seen  her  for 
a  year." 

"  How  did  you  come  to  go  to  Salomon  &  Zeisler's  office  ? " — 
"  I  saw  a  notice  in  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  asking  for  all  that  knew 
anything  about  the  bomb  throwing  to  call  on  them.  I  went 
there  on  Sunday." 

"  When  did  you  see  this  notice  ? " — "  Some  time  ago.  I  don't 
remember  when." 

"  Did  you  talk  with  any  one  about  this  bomb  throwing  ? " — 
"Yes,  with  Albright." 

"Any  one  else?"— "No." 

"  Yet  you  saw  the  bomb  in  the  air  and  heard  the  explosion 
but  you  did  not  talk  to  any  one  about  what  you  saw? — "That's 
it." 

M.  T.  Malkoff,  the  correspondent  of  a  paper  at  Moscow, 
Russia,  and  formerly  a  writer  on  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung,  testified 
that  Parsons  was  in  Zephf's  hall,  talking  to  his  wife,  Mrs. 
Holmes  and  the  witness,  when  the  bomb  exploded.  State's  At- 
torney Grinnell  elicits  from  the  witness  that  he  has  been  five 
years  in  this  country,  that  he  lived  in  New  York  and  maintained 
himself  by  teaching  the  Russian  Language.     From  New  York, 


78  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

he  went  to  Little  Rock,  then  to  St.  Louis,  and  finally  to  Chicago, 
arriving  here  in  1884.  "You  came  here  with  a  letter  of  intro- 
duction to  Spies  ? " — "  No,  sir.  I  obtained  my  position  in  the 
South  through  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Spies." 

"  How  did  you  come  to  get  that  letter  ? " — "  I  and  a  man 
named  Clossie  translated  a  romance  from  the  Russian  and  sold 
it  to  Spies." 

"  That  was  a  revolutionary  novel  ? " — "  It  was  not.  It  was  a 
description " 

"Oh,  I  don't  want  to  go  into  that.  You  know  Herr  Most?" 
— "  I  have  seen  him,  but  I  don't  know  him." 

"  You  know  Justus  Schwab  ?  You  had  letters  sent  to  his 
address  V— "That  may  be." 

"  You  lived  with  Schwab  in  New  York  ? "— "  I  did  not." 

"  You  lived  with  Balthazar  Rau  here,  though,  on  May  4  ? " — 
"  I  did." 

"  Where  ?  "— "  At  418  Larrabee  street." 

"When  did  you  leave  Russia?"— "In  1882." 

"Your  bedroom  was  searched,  wasn't  it  ?  " — "  Yes,  sir." 

"  Were  the  arms  found  there  guns  and  bayonets,  or  any  of 
them,  belonging  to  you  ?" — "No,  sir." 

"Where  did  you  live  before  you  went  to  Rau's  house?" — 
"With  Mr.  Schwab." 

"One  of  the  def endants  ? "— "  Yes,  sir." 

"You  are  a  stockholder  in  the  Alarm  company?" — "No, 
sir." 

"  You  contributed  money  to  that  organization  ? " — "  That 
may  be." 

"  But  did  you  not  contribute  money  ? " — "  I  did." 

"How  much?"— "Two  dollars." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  f9 

"You  were  a  Nihilist  in  Russia  ?" — "No,  sir.1' 

"Are  you  not  the  agent  here  for  the  Nihilists  in  Russia  ? " — 
"No,  sir.     I  am  not  an  agent  for  any  society  in  Russia." 

"  Did  you  not  tell  Mr.  Hardy  you  were  the  agent  for  a  Ni- 
hilistic society  " — "No,  sir.  The  reporters  used  to  call  me  a 
Nihilist  because  I  was  Russian." 

"What  paper  are  yon  now  working  for?" — "The  Moscow 
Gazette.1'' 

"  Look  at  that  letter ;  is  that  your  signature  at  the  bottom  \  " 
—"It  is." 

The  letter  is  written  in  German  and  it  is  given  to  the  trans- 
lator, who  is  instructed  to  render  it  into  English.  "  This  letter 
is  directed  to  a  '  Mr.  Editor.'  What  editor  ? " — "I  think  it  was 
directed  to  Mr.  Spies." 

"That  was  before  you  came  to  Chicago?" — "It  was." 

"  Then  we  offer  it  in  evidence."  The  letter  is,  in  substance, 
an  inquiry  as  to  whether  or  not  Spies  could  use  certain  articles 
written  by  Malkoff.  It  goes  on  to  say :  "  I  have  just  completed 
another  article  treating  of  the  secret  revolutionary  societies  of 
Russia.  I  am  a  proletariat  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word. 
Address  your  letter  to  J.  H.  Schwab,  50  First  street,  New  York." 

"Is  that  J.  H.  Schwab,  Justus  Schwab?"— "It  is." 

"Did  you  live  with  him  in  New  York? " — "No,  sir.  I  just 
got  my  mail  there." 

"  Now,"  said  Foster,  "you  say  you  were  a  proletariat.  What 
do  you  mean  by  that  term?" — "I  understand  it  to  be  a  man 
without  any  means  of  support." 

"  And  you,  having  no  money,  had  your  mail  sent  to  Justus 
Schwab  because  you  had  no  home,  eh?" — "Yes,  sir." 

"  Now,"  asked  Mr.  Ingham,  "  I'll  ask  you  if  you  did  not  use 


80  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

the  term  proletariat  in  the  sense  in  which  Socialists  always  em- 
ploy that  term  ? " — "  No,  sir,  I  did  not." 

SAMUEL    FIELDEN. 

Samuel  Fielden,  one  of  the  defendants  who  was  speaking  at 
the  time  of  the  bomb  explosion,  testified  that  he  did  not  know 
who  threw  the  bomb,  and  denied  that  he  fired  at  the  police  with 
a  revolver.  He  was  cross-examined  by  Mr.  Ingham  for  the 
State,  who  asked :  "  At  what  age  did  you  come  to  the  United 
States?  " — "Twenty -one." 

"  Did  you  have  any  business  before  you  came  to  the  United 
States  ? " — "  I  went  to  work  in  a  cotton  mill  at  eight  years  of 
age,  and  worked  in  that  mill  until  I  left  the  country  to  come  to 
the  United  States." 

"How  long  have  you  been  a  Socialist?" — "I  joined  the  So- 
cialistic organization  in  July,  1884." 

11  How  long  have  you  been  a  revolutionist  ?  " — "  In  the  sense 
of  an  evolutionary  revolutionist,  I  have  been  so  for  a  number  of 
years." 

"How  long  have  you  been  of  the  belief  that  the  existing 
order  of  things  should  be  overthrown  by  force?" — "I  don't 
know  that  I  have  ever  been  convinced.  I  am  of  the  opinion 
that  the  existing  order  of  things  must  be  overturned,  but 
whether  by  force  I  don't  know." 

"  How  long  have  you  believed  in  Anarchy  ? " — "  Well,  I  be- 
lieved in  it  shortly  after  I  joined  the  organization — as  soon  as 
I  came  to  think  on  the  subject." 

11  You  have  been  progressing  from  Socialism  to  Anarchism ; 
and  if  you  cannot  convince  the  majority  of  the  United  States  to 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  81 

your  opinions,  you  propose  to  compel  them  by  force?11 — Ob. 
jected  to. 

"  How  long  have  you  preached  Anarchy  ? " — Objected  to. 

"  Was  there  any  English-speaking  group  in  the  city  that  you 
know  of?  " — Objected  to. 

"  Did  you  ever  attend  any  meeting  of  any  English-speaking 
group  other  than  the  American  group  in  this  city  of  that  kind  V 
— "  We  tried  to  found  one  a  year  ago  last  winter  on  West  Indi- 
ana street.  I  think  we  only  held  two  meetings,  and  then  we 
abandoned  it." 

"Any  other  group  of  them  that  you  attended?11 — "I  don?t 
remember  any  now.11 

"You  have  for  the  last  two  or  three  years  been  making 
speeches  of  Socialistic  and  Anarchistic  character?11 — "I  have 
been  making  labor  speeches ;  they  were  not  always  Socialistic  or 
Anarchistic  speeches.11 

"But  you  have  made  Socialistic  and  Anarchistic  speeches?11 
— "  Well,  I  have  touched  on  Anarchy  and  Socialism,  and  some- 
times my  speeches  might  have  been  considered  from  the  ordinary 
trades  union  standpoint,  for  all  the  anarchy  there  was  in  them.11 

"  Have  you  ever  made  speeches  on  the  Lake  front  and  other 
Socialistic  meetings?11 — "Yes,  on  the  Lake  front,  some  on  Mar- 
ket square,  Twelfth  street  Turner  hall,  and  at  No.  106  Ran- 
dolph street.11 

"Look  at  the  copy  of  the  Alarm  of  June  27,  1885,  'Dyna- 
mite ;  Instructions  Regarding  Its  Use  and  Operation,1  and  signed 
'A.  S.1  Say  whether  you  ever  saw  it.11 — "I  don^  know  that  I 
have.11 

"  Was  there  any  reason  why  you  did  not  walk  when  you 


82  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

started  home  that  night  ? " — "  Yes.  I  did  not  wish  to  be  ar- 
rested that  night." 

"You  expected  that  you  would  be  arrested?" — "Well,  after 
that  trouble  I  expected  to  be  arrested." 

"  Wou  were  speaking  when  the  police  came  up,  and  were 
making  no  inflammatory  speech  ? " — "  I  did  not  incite  anybody 
to  do  anything,  to  do  any  overt  act.  I  told  the  people  in  gen- 
eral to  resist  the  present  socialistic  system  that  oppressed  them, 
and  gave  them  no  chance  to  earn  a  living." 

"  And  yet  you  expected  to  be  arrested  ?  " — "  I  had  read  some- 
thing of  criminal  proceedings,  and  I  knew  that  the  police  would 
arrest  everybody  connected  with  that  meeting  in  order  to  find 
the  one  who  was  responsible.  I  made  an  explanation  before  the 
Coroner's  jury  because  I  had  a  different  idea  of  the  police  at 
that  time.  I  thought  if  I  made  that  statement  and  they  in- 
quired into  the  truth  and  were  convinced  of  my  innocence  they 
would  let  me  go.     But  I  now  see  that  I  was  mistaken." 

"Did  the  police  indict  you?" — "I  don't  know  who  indicted 
me." 

Redirect — "  You  have  heard  what  has  been  said  about  your 
expression  of  throttling  the  law,  of  killing  it,  of  stabbing  it. 
Just  state  the  explanation  which  you  said  you  desired  to  make 
in  regard  to  that." — "  Well,  it  was  just  the  explanation  that  a 
public  orator  would  make  when  he  was  denouncing  a  political 
party.  When  he  said  he  wanted  to  get  rid  of  the  Democratic 
party,  for  instance,  he  would  kill  it,  stab  it,  or  make  way  with  it. 
The  words  would  rush  away  with  a  public  speaker,  and  in  the 
hurry  he  could  not  add  a  lengthy  explanation." 

"  You  also  read  the  reporter's  notes  in  regard  to  snails  and 
worms,  and  said  there  was  no  connection  there.     What  were 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  8J 

your  words  in  reference  to  snails  and  worms,  and  the  idea  that 
you  now  remember?  " — "Well,  the  idea  that  I  intended  to  con- 
vey at  that  time  was  that  when  men  were  thrown  out  of  work 
through  no  fault  of  their  own,  and  it  being  a  fact  that  has  been 
proven  and  asserted  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
that  over  a  million  of  men  are  out  of  employment  through  no 
fault  of  their  own — these  men  being  driven  about,  become  de- 
graded and  loathsome,  and  people  look  upon  them  with  con- 
tempt, and  yet  it  is  no  fault  of  their  own ;  they  have  no  part  in 
producing  the  condition  of  things  that  throws  them  out  of  em- 
ployment, and  leads  them  to  their  abject  condition.1'' 

"  You  did  not  know  of  the  presence  of  a  dynamite  bomb  or 
anything  of  that  kiud  in  the  crowd  ?  " — "  No,  sir ;  I  did  not  even 
know  of  the  presence  of  an  unusual  number  of  police  at  the  sta- 
tion. .  I  did  not  know  that  till  after  the  meeting." 

Henry  Schultz,  an  elderly  German,  testified  that  "from  9 
o'clock  until  the  fight  was  over  I  was  on  the  Haymarket ;  I  stood 
in  the  middle  of  the  steet,  a  little  north  of  the  wagon.'" 

"  How  long  had  you  been  in  Chicago  at  that  time  ? " — "  Two 
weeks.     I  am  a  tourist.1'     [Laughter.] 

"  Have  you  been  in  the  habit  of  attending  meetings  in  the 
street  ? " — "  No ;  but  since  I  have  been  here  seeing  the  sights  I 
would  stop  at  anything." 

"Before  the  police  came,  did  you  see  anything  disorderly?  " 
— "It  was,  as  I  know,  peaceable,  like  a  Fourth  of  July." 

"Do  you  remember  the  speech  of  the  first  speaker?" — ''I 
know  the  run  of  his  talk;  I  kept  it  in  my  mind.  He  said,  'I 
didn't  want  to  come  here.  Then  they  called  me  a  coward,  and 
I  didn't  like  to  be  called  a  coward,  and  that  is  the  reason  I 
came.'     A  few  words  after  that  he  said:     'They  are  only  500 


84  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

yards  from  here.  Maybe  by  to-morrow  morning  I  will  have  to 
die.'  I  kept  that  on  my  mind.  I  left  the  meeting  when  the 
black  cloud  came  up,  and  when  the  bomb  exploded  I  looked 
around  the  corner,  and  I  saw  everything  dark,  and  I  thought 
the  bomb  must  have  blown  out  the  lights."     [Laughter.] 

tk  What  else  did  you  seee?  " — "  I  saw  the  policemen  and  they 
were  all  around.  They  had  the  ground.  I  saw  some  of  the 
workmen  run — they  were  about  two  blocks  ahead  of  the  police." 

"  Did  you  see  the  police  come  upon  the  working  men  ?  " — 
"They  came  pretty  strong  in  Lake  street,  and  they  had  the  men 
in  the  gutter,  and  when  they  raised  up  they  got  another  club." 

Mr.  Grinnell — "  AVhat  is  your  business  T1 — "  Doing  nothing,1' 
replied  Mr.  Schultz,  with  a  grin  at  the  crowd,  and  the  crowd 
laughed  in  a  guarded  way,  because  they  did  not  wish  to  be  fired 
out  of  the  entertainment. 

"How  long  have  you  been  conducting  that  business?" — 
"  About  ten  years.     Before  that  I  was  mining  in  Montana." 

kt  Where  is  your  house  in  Portage  City?  " — "The  next  house 
to  the  courthouse,"  responded  the  witness  with  a  cunning  look 
at  the  Court,  and  there  was  another  wild  outburst  of  mirth  from 
the  audience.  Mr.  Schultz  narrated  a  part  of  his  early  history, 
from  which  it  appeared  that  before  he  became  a  millionaire  he 
played  the  fiddle  at  dances;  and  in  answer  to  a  question  as  to 
when  he  began  to  be  a  musician,  he  said:  " From  nine  years 
old.     My  father  was  a  musician — it  runs  in  the  family." 

"  Do  you  play  the  violin  since  you  have  been  in  Chicago? ' 
— "  No;  my  money  reaches  so  that  I  don't  have  to  do  anything." 
[Laughter.] 

"The  first  speaker  was  Spies,  wasn't  it?" — "Oh,  I  can't 
promise  anything,"  said  Mr.  Schultz,  with  a  contortion  of  coun- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY  85 

tenance  whicli  brought  down  the  house.  Judge  Gary  looked 
indignantly  around  and  said:  "  Oh!  be  quiet!  "  and  the  crowd 
immediately  became  as  demure  as  a  Quaker  meeting. 

"  What  did  Spies  say  about  the  police  being  so  many  feet 
away?  " — u  He  said  they  was  only  five  hundred  yards  from  here 
and  he  was  likely  to  die  before  morning.  That  was  about  all 
he  said  in  that  run  of  speech.11 

"Did  you  hear  the  first  speaker  say  anything  about  'To  arms! 
to  arms! '?  " — tk  That  was  the  man — I  heard  him." 

"  Where  did  you  go  when  you  left  the  meeting?  " — "  I  went 
to  wash  my  feet!  " 

The  expression  on  Mr.  Schultz's  face,  and  the  simplicity  of 
the  answer,  upset  the  decorum  of  the  spectators  and  they  laughed 
right  out  in  meetin,'  regardless  of  the  threatened  penality  for 
such  a  glaring  contempt  of  court.  Judge  Gary  himself,  how- 
ever, assisted  in  the  hilarity,  and  was  very  lenient  with  the  of- 
fenders, a  fellow-feeling  evidently  making  him  wondrous  kind. 
Mr.  Schultz  a  moment  afterward  had  an  opportunity  to  correct 
the  impression  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  touring  around  the 
streets  of  Chicago  in  his  bare  feet. 

"  Did  you  have  your  boots  off  when  you  were  washing  your 
feet  ? 11 — "  Oh,  no ;  I  didn't  wash  my  feet ;  I  only  washed  the  mud 
off  my  boots  in  one  of  them  horse-troughs.11  Then  Mr.  Schultz 
treated  the  company  to  a  choice  selection  of  facial  contortions, 
and  got  down  out  of  the  chair  with  the  air  of  a  man  who  has 
done  his  duty,  his  whole  duty,  and  nothing  but  his  duty. 

MICHAEL    SCHWAB. 

The  defendant,  Michael  Schwab,  was  put  on  the  stand  Mon- 
day, August  9.     He  testified  that  he  went  to  the  Arbeiter  Zei- 


86  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

tung  office  on  the  evening  of  May  4.  A  telephone  message  was 
received  requesting  Spies  to  speak  at  a  meeting  near  Deering's 
Harvester  works,  on  Clybourn  avenue.  The  witness  said  he 
went  to  the  Hay  market  to  find  Spies,  but  failed.  He  did  see 
Rudolph  Sclinaubelt,  his  brother-in-law,  there.  Witness  then 
took  a  street  car  and  went  up  Clybourn  avenue ;  spoke  twenty 
minutes  at  the  meeting;  stepped  into  a  saloon  and  got  a  few 
glasses  of  beer,  and  then  went  to  his  home,  on  Florimond  street, 
arriving  about  11  o'clock  P.  M. 

Mr.  Foster  asked:  "Were  you  ever  in  the  alley  at  Crane 
Bros.'  that  night  with  Mr.  Spies?  " — "  No,  sir." 

"  Did  you  walk  west  on  Randolph  street  with  Mr.  Spies  two 
blocks,  then  return  with  him?  " — "  No,  sir." 

"  Did  you  see  Mr.  Spies  that  night?  "— "  No,  sir." 

"  Did  you  see  Mr.  Spies  hand  your  brother-in-law  a  package 
that  night  in  the  alley  at  Crane  Bros.',  and  did  you  say  anything 
like  this:  l  If  that  won't  be  enough,  shall  we  get  another  one ? '  " 
— "  No,  sir." 

"  Did  you  see  Mr.  Spies  at  all  that  night?  " — "  No,  sir." 

"  When  did  you  see  him  at  all  for  the  last  time  that  day?  " 
— "  In  the  afternoon.  I  did  not  see  him  again  until  the  next 
morning." 

Schwab  said  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  Internationalist 
society  since  its  organization.  On  the  night  of  May  4  he  went 
to  the  Haymarket  on  foot  and  walked  through  the  Washington 
street  tunnel.  Balthazar  Rau  accompanied  him  as  far  west  as 
Desplaines  street. 

"  Are  you  an  Anarchist?  "  asked  Mr.  Grinnell. — "  It  depends 
on  what  you  mean.     There  are  several  definitions  of  that." 


MICHAEL  SCHWAB. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  87 

11  Answer  my  question.  Are  you  an  Anarchist?  " — "  I  can't 
answer  that." 

AUGUST   SPIES. 

Schwab  stepped  down  and  Spies  took  the  stand.  '  Give  your 
full  name  to  the  jury,"  said  Captain  Black. 

"  August  Vincent  Theodore  Spies,"  replies  the  prisoner. 

He  is  thirty -one  years  old,  and  came  to  this  county  from 
Germany  in  1872.  Spies  speaks  with  a  marked  accent,  but  very 
distinctly.  He  is  cool  and  collected  apparently,  and  sits  back 
in  the  witness  chair  very  much  at  ease. 

He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Socialistic  Publishing  Society, 
and  that  concern  exercised  control  over  the  policy  of  the  Arbei- 
ter  Zeitung,  of  which  paper  the  witness  was  editor  for  six  years. 
Spies  said  he  was  at  a  meeting  on  the  "  black  road  "  on  May  3. 
Spies  reached  the  meeting  on  the  "  black  road  "  about  3  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon.  There  was  a  crowd  of  perhaps  three  thousand 
present.  Some  men  were  speaking,  but  they  were  very  poor 
speakers,  and  the  crowd  was  not  interested.  Balthazar  Rau  was 
with  him,  and  introduced  him  to  the  chairman  of  the  meeting. 
It  was  called  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  eight-hour  ques- 
tion. While  Spies  was  there  a  committee  was  appointed  to  wait 
on  the  bosses;  then  he  was  introduced,  and  spoke  for  possibly 
twenty  minutes.     Spies  went  on : 

"  I  was  almost  prostrated.  I  had  been  speaking  two  or  three 
times  daily  for  the  past  two  or  three  weeks,  and  was  very  much 
worn.  I  did  not  jump  around  and  wave  my  hands  as  one  wit- 
ness testified  here  on  the  stand,  and  I  made  a  very  common- 
place, ordinary  speech.  I  told  the  men  to  hold  together,  to 
stand  by  their  union,  or  they  would  not  succeed.     That  was  the 


88  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

substance  of  what  I  said.  While  I  was  speaking  some  one  cried 
out  in  an  unknown  tongue,  and  about  two  hundred  men  de- 
tached themselves  from  the  crowd  and  went  on  to  McCormick's. 
Pretty  soon  I  heard  firing,  aDd  on  inquiring  what  was  the  mat- 
ter was  told  the  men  had  attacked  McCormick's  men,  and  that 
the  police  were  filing  on  them.  I  stopped  for  about  five  min- 
utes, was  elected  a  member  of  the  committee;  then  1  went  to 
McCormick's.  A  lot  of  cars  were  standing  on  the  tracks.  The 
men  were  hiding  behind  these  cars,  others  were  running,  while 
the  police  were  firing  on  the  flying  people.  The  sight  of  this 
made  my  blood  boil.  At  that  time  I  could  have  done  almost 
anything,  I  was  so  excited.  A  young  Irishman  came  out  from 
behind  one  of  the  cars.     I  think  he  knew  me  and  said:     '  What 

kind  of business  is  this  \     There  are  two  men  over  there 

dead ;  the  police  have  killed  them.'  I  asked  him  how  many 
were  killed.  He  said  five  or  six,  and  that  twenty-five  or  thirty 
were  injured.  I  came  down  town  then  and  wrote  the  report 
which  appeared  in  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  the  next  day." 

"  Did  you  write  the  '  Revenge  Circular '  \ — "  Yes;  only  I  did 
not  write  the  word  '  Revenge.'  " 

"  Can  you  tell  how  that  word  happened  to  put  in  the  circu- 
lar ? " — "  I  cannot." 

"  How  many  of  those  circulars  were  distributed  ? " — "  About 
twenty-five  hundred." 

"  How  soon  was  it  written  after  your  return  to  the  office  ? " 
— "  Immediately." 

"  At  that  time  were  you  still  laboring  under  the  excitement 
incident  to  the  riot  (  " — "  I  was." 

"  What  was  your  state  of  mind  ?  " — "  I  was  very  indignant. 
I  knew  from  experience  of  the  past  that  this  butchering  of  peo- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  8i> 

pie  was  done  for  the  express  purpose  of  defeating  the  eight-hour 
movement."  Spies  is  growing  excited.  Mr.  Grinnell  objects. 
The  Court  says  his  last  answer  is  not  proper  and  orders  it 
stricken  from  the  record. 

"  On  the  evening  of  May  4  you  attended  the  HaymarKet 
meeting  ?  " — "  I  did." 

"  You  were  asked  to  speak  there  ?  " — "  I  was." 

"When  did  learn  there  was  to  be  a  meeting?  " — "About  8 
o'clock  that  morning.  I  was  advised  there  was  to  be  a  meeting 
and  was  asked  to  address  it." 

"What  time  did  you  reach  there?" — "About  8:20  o'clock." 

"  Did  you  see  the  notice  of  that  meeting  in  the  Arbeiter  Zei- 
tungf" — "Yes;  I  put  it  in  myself." 

"  Did  you  see  a  circular  that  day,  calling  for  a  meeting  at 
the  Haymarket  ?  " — "Yes.  It  was  the  circular  containing  the 
line:  k  Working  men,  arm  yourselves  and  appear  in  full  force.' 
When  I  read  that  line  I  said:  "If  this  is  the  meeting  I  am  to 
address  I  will  not  speak.1  He  asked  why.  I  said  on  account 
of  that  line.  He  said  the  circulars  had  not  been  distributed,  and 
I  said:  k  If  the  line  is  taken  out  I  will  go.'  Fischer  was  sent 
for  and  he  told  the  men  to  have  that  line  taken  out." 

41  Who  was  this  man  that  brought  the  circulars  ?  " — "  He  was 
on  the  stand  ;  Gruenberg  is  his  name,  I  think." 

"  Was  there  any  torch  on  the  wagon?  " — "  No;  I  think  the 
sky  was  clear  and  that  the  lamp  was  burning  near  the  corner  of 
the  alley." 

"  Was  that  selection  made  by  yourself,  or  upon  consulta- 
tion? " — "  Well,  I  consulted  with  my  brother  Henry.  He  was 
with  me  all  evening." 

"  After  you  got  them  together,  what  did  you  do  ?  " — "Some 


00  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

one  suggested  we  nad  better  move  the  wagon  around  on  Ran- 
dolph street,  but  I  said  that  might  impede  the  street  cars.  Then 

1  asked  where  was  Parsons.  I  was  not  on  the  committee  of  ar- 
rangements and  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  meeting  except  to 
speak.  One  Schroder  said  Parsons  was  speaking  then  at  the 
corner  of  Halsted  and  Randolph  streets,  and  I  went  up  to  find 
him  with  my  brother  Henry  and  Schnaubelt." 

"  Did  you  see  Schwab  ?  " — "  No,  I  did  not.  Schnaubelt  told 
me  Schwab  had  gone  to  Deerings." 

"  Did  you  go  to  Crane's  alley  with  Schwab?"-  -"  I  could  not 
very  well  do  that,  as  I  had  not  seen  him  that  night." 

"  Just  answer  the  question,"  cried  Mr.  Ingham. — "  Well,  I 
did  not  go  to  the  alley.  I  did  not  even  know  there  was  an  alley 
there.'1  The  witness  denies  the  conversation  Mr.  Thompson 
alleges  he  overheard  Spies  engage  in  with  Schwab.  He  said 
Schnaubelt  cannot  speak  any  English — that  he  has  only  been 
about  two  years  in  the  country. 

"  Did  Schwab  say  to  you  that  evening:  '  Now,  if  they  come, 
we  are  prepared  for  them'  ? " — "  No,  sir  ;  I  did  not  see  him  that 
evening." 

11  Did  you  talk  with  Schwab  on  the  east  side  of  Desplaines 
street,  about  twelve  feet  south  of  the  alley  that  evening?"— "I 
did  not.     I  was  not  anywhere  near  that  alley  with  any  man." 

"  You  remember  what  the  witness  Thompson  said,  that  he 
saw  you  walk  with  Schnaubelt  east  on  Randolph  street;  that  he 
saw  you  hand  liini  something;  that  you  then  returned  to  the 
meeting  together.  Is  that  true  ?" — "  It  is  not.  That  man  told 
a  different  story  before  the  coroner's  jury." 

This  last  answer  is  ordered  stricken  out,  and  Spies  was  told 
to  say  nothing  but  in  answer  to  questions.     Spies  was  asked  to 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  91 

tell  what  lie  said  at  the  meeting.  It  was  a  short  synopsis  of  the 
existing  state  of  the  labor  world.  First,  he  said  that  the  meet- 
ing was  to  be  a  peaceable  one ;  that  it  was  not  called  for  the 
purpose  of  creating  trouble.  Attention  was  directed  to  the 
strike  at  East  St.  Louis,  where  those  who  were  active  in  the  riots 
there  were  not  Socialists  nor  Anarchists,  but  church-going  peo- 
ple, and  honest,  sincere  Christians.  It  was  admitted  by  students 
that  society  was  retrograding ;  the  masses  were  being  degraded 
under  the  excessive  work  they  had  to  carry  on.  For  twenty 
years  the  working  men  asked  in  vain  for  two  hours  less  work  a 
day,  and  that  finally  they  resolved  to  take  the  matter  in  their 
own  hands  and  help  themselves.  "  About  this  time  I  saw  Par- 
sons, then  I  broke  off.  I  was  not  in  a  state  to  make  a  speech.  I 
was  tired.  I  introduced  Parsons,  and  he  proceeded  to  address 
the  meeting." 

"What  was  the  size  of  the  crowd  then?'1 — "About  two 
thousand  persons." 

"Where  did  you  go  after  finishing  your  speech  ?  " — "  I  re- 
mained on  the  wagon.1' 

"  You  spoke  in  English  ? " — "  Yes.  I  made  no  speech  in 
German  that  night.  I  was  asked  to  do  so,  but  was  too  tired.  I 
introduced  Fielden  and  he  made  a  brief  speech,  then  we  in- 
tended to  go  home.'1 

"  What  did  Parsons  say  in  his  speech  \  '" — "  Parsons  made  a 
pretty  good  speech.  He  said  of  the  dollar  earned  by  the  work- 
ing men  they  got  only  fifteen  cents,  while  the  pharisaical  class 
got  eighty-five  cents,  and  that  the  eight-hour  movement  was  a 
still -hunt  for  that  eighty -five  cents." 

"  What  do  you  remember  of  Fielden's  speech  ?  " — "  Well, 


92  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

Fielden  did  not  say  much.  I  don't  remember  now  what  he  did 
say.r 

"  Were  you  on  the  wagon  when  the  police  came  ?  " — "  Yes. 
I  saw  the  police  on  Randolph  street/' 

"  At  that  time  what  was  the  size  of  the  meeting?" — "It  was 
as  good  as  adjourned.  About  two-thirds  of  those  present  went, 
some  going  to  Zephf's  hall  when  the  black  cloud  came  up." 

"  What  did  you  hear  when  the  command  to  disperse  was 
given  ?  " — "  I  was  standing  in  the  middle  of  the  wagon,  back  of 
Fielden.  I  heard  Captain  Ward  say;  '  I  command  you,  in  the 
name  of  the  people  of  Illinois,  to  disperse.'  Captain  Ward  had 
a  cane  or  club  in  his  hand.  Fidlden  said  to  him:  '  Captain,  this 
is  a  peaceable  meeting.'  I  started  to  get  clown  out  of  the 
wagon.  My  brother  Henry  and  one  Legner  helped  me  down. 
I  was  indignant  at  the  thought  that  the  police  had  come  to  dis- 
perse the  meeting,  as  it  was  a  quiet  one.  Just  as  soon  as  I 
reached  the  ground  I  heard  a  loud  detonation.  I  thought  the 
police  had  a  cannon  to  frighten  the  people.  I  did  not  dream  for 
a  moment  of  a  bomb,  and  I  did  not  even  then  think  the  police 
were  firing  at  the  crowd.  I  thought  the  police  were  firing  over 
their  heads." 

"Where  did  you  go  to?" — "I  was  pushed  along  by  the 
crowd.     I  went  to  Zephf's  hall." 

"  Did  you  at  any  time  that  night  get  down  from  the  wagon 
and  go  into  an  alley  and  light  a  bomb  in  the  hands  of  Rudolph 
Schnaubelt  ? "— "  1  never  did." 

"  Did  you  see  Schnaubelt  in  the  alley  that  night  while 
Fischer  was  there?"— "I  did  not." 

"You  remember  the  witness  Gilmer?" — "Yes." 

"Is  his  story  true?"— "Not  a  word  of  it." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  93 

"You  remember  Wilkinson,  the  reporter  for  the  Daily 
News?11 — "Yes.     I  had  a  conversation  with  him  in  January." 

"Well,  go  on  and  tell  us  about  it." — "  He  was  introduced  to 
me  by  Joe  Gruenhut.  He  said  he  wanted  to  get  some  data 
wherewith  to  prepare  an  article  on  Anarchism,  Socialism  and 
dynamite,  and  all  that.  I  happened  to  have  four  shells  in  my 
office.  I  had  them  for  about  three  years.  A  man  on  his  way 
to  New  Zealand  gave  me  two  bombs;  another  man  some  time 
after  called  at  my  office  with  two  bombs,  and  wanted  to  know 
if  their  construction  was  proper.  That's  how  I  came  to  pos- 
sess them.  He  wanted  one  to  show  to  Mr.  Stone.  I  let  him 
take  it.  We  went  to  dinner  at  a  restaurent,  and  we  conversed 
about  society,  its  present  state,  and  the  trouble  that  was  likely 
to  ensue.  We  spoke  about  street  warfare,  as  all  this  was  con- 
tained in  the  papers  every  day.  There  was  constant  talk  that 
so  many  wild-eyed  Socialists  were  arriving  every  day,  and  I  told 
him  it  was  an  open  secret  that  there  were  3,000  armed  Socialists 
in  Chicago,  and  we  spoke  about  revolutions,  and  I  said  that  in 
past  ages  gun-powder  had  come  to  the  assistance  of  the  down- 
trodden masses,  and  that  dynamite  was  a  child  of  the  same  par- 
ent, and  was  a  great  leveler." 

"  Do  you  remember  the  toothpick  illustration  ? " — "Yes.  I 
remember  that,  and  also  re-call  speaking  of  the  Washington 
street  tunnel,  saying  how  easy  comparatively  few  men  could 
hold  that  tunnel  against  a  body  of  soldiers,  but  nothing  was 
said  about  Chicago,  nor  was  any  time  fixed  for  the  revolution/' 

"You  wrote  the  word  'Ruhe'  for  insertion  in  the  Arheiter 
Zeitung  May  4  ? "— "  I  did." 

"How  did  you  come  to  do  that?"- — "The  night  before  at  11 
o'clock  I  received  a  letter  as  follows:     Mr.  Editor:     Please  in- 


94  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

sert  in  to-day's  letter  box  the  word  'Ruhe '  in  prominent  letters." 

"  At  that  time  did  you  know  there  was  any  import  attached 
to  the  word?"— "I  did  not." 

"When  did  you  next  hear  of  it  ?" — "The  next  afternoon 
Balthazar  Rau  asked  me  if  the  word  was  in  the  paper.  I  said: 
'Yes/  He  asked  me  if  I  knew  the  meaning.  I  said:  '.No.' 
Then  he  said:  'The  armed  section  had  a  meeting  last  night 
and  adopted  the  word  'Ruhe'  as  a  signal  to  keep  their  powder 
dry  and  be  in  readiness  in  case  the  police  precipitated  a  riot.' 
I  asked  if  that  had  anything  to  do  with  the  meeting  I  was  to 
address  at  the  Haymarket,  and  he  said:  'Oh,  no;  that's  some- 
thing the  boys  got  up  themselves.'  I  said  it  was  very  foolish, 
that  it  was  not  rational,  and  asked  if  there  was  no  way  in  which 
it  could  be  undone.  Rau  then  went  to  see  the  people  of  the 
armed  section  and  told  them  the  word  was  put  in  by  mistake." 

"  Were  you  a  member  of  the  armed  section  ? " — "  No,  not  for 
six  year." 

"Did  you  ever  have  dynamite  and  a  fuse  in  your  desk?" — 
"  Yes,  I  had  two  packages  of  giant  powder  and  some  fuse  in  my 
desk  for  two  years.  I  had  them  chiefly  to  show  to  reporters, 
they  bothered  me  a  good  deal.  They  always  wanted  some  sen- 
sation. Then,  too,  1  wanted  the  dynamite  to  study  it;  I  had 
read  a  great  deal  about  explosives." 

"  Do  you  know  anything  about  a  package  of  dynamite  found 
on  the  shelf  in  the  closet  of  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung?  v — "  Ab- so- 
lute-ly  nothing." 

"Do  you  know  anything  about  a  revolver  that  was  found  in 
the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  office?  ' — "No.  I  do  not.  I  carried  a  re- 
volver myself,  but  it  was  a  good  one.'' 

"Did  you  carry  a  revolver?  " — "  Yes.     I  always  thought  it 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  95 

was  a  good  thing  to  be  prepared.     I  was  out  late  at  night  a 
good  deal." 

''Did  you  have  a  revolver  that  night?" — "No,  it  was  too 
heavy.     I  left  it'with  ex-Aid.  Frank  Stauber." 

"  You  were  arrested  May  5  ?" — "Yes." 

"Tell  us  how." — "Well,  an  officer — James  Bonfield,  I  think 
— came  to  my  office  and  asked  for  Schwab.  He  said  Chief  Eb- 
ersold  would  like  to  see  him.  Schwab  asked  me  if  he  should  go. 
I  said  yes,  he  might.  Then  the  officer  turned  to  me  and  asked 
me  if  my  name  was  Spies.  I  said  yes.  Then  he  said  Superin- 
tendent Ebersold  would  like  to  see  me  about  that  affair  of  last 
night.  I  went  over  there,  unsuspectingly.  I  was  never  so 
treated  before  in  all  my  life." 

"  Tell  what  happened  ? " — "  Well,  as  soon  as  I  got  into  the 
station  Superintendent  Ebersold  started  at  me.  He  said :  '  You 
dirty  Dutch  dog;  you  hound;  you  whelp — you,  we  will  strangle 
you!  We  will  kill  you!'"  Then  they  jumped  on  us,  tore  us 
apart  from  each  other.  I  never  said  anything.  Then  they 
searched  us,  took  our  money,  even  our  handkerchiefs,  and  would 
not  return  them  to  us.  I  was  put  in  a  cell,  and  have  not  had 
my  liberty  since." 

Mr.  Ingham  cross-examined  the  witness.  Spies  said  he  came 
to  this  country  when  seventeen  years  old,  and  that  he  has  lived 
in  Chicago  some  thirteen  years.  The  Arbeiter  Zeitung  was  con- 
trolled by  what  Spies  termed  an  "  autonomous  editorial  arrange- 
ment;" that  is,  the  powers  of  the  several  editors  were  co-ordi- 
nate, but  the  general  policy  of  the  paper  was  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  board  of  trustees. 

"Did  you  ever  receive  any  money  for  the  Alarm?  " — "Yes.' 

"Did  you  ever  pay  out  any  money  for  the  Alarm?  " — "Yes." 


96  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

"  Did  you  ever  write  any  articles  for  the  Alarm?  " — "  I  may 
have." 

"How  many  bombs  did  you  have  in  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung 
officer'' — '-Four,  I  think.  Two  I  got  from  a  man  named 
Schwab.  I  forget  now.  He  was  a  shoemaker.  He  went  to 
New  Zealand." 

"How  did  this  man  come  to  give  you  those  bombs  ?  " — "He 
came  to  me  and  asked  me  if  my  name  was  Spies.  I  said  yes. 
Then  he  asked  me  if  I  had  seen  any  of  the  bombs  they  were 
making.     I  said  no.     Then  he  left  them  with  me." 

"  Who  did  he  mean  by  '  they '  ?  "— "  I  don't  know." 

"  Didn't  he  say  who  they  were  ? " — "  No." 

"And  you  never  saw  him  before  or  since?" — "No,  sir." 

"  And  when  did  you  get  these  czar  bombs  ? " — "  I  never  got 
them.  That  is  an  invention  of  that  reporter.  A  man  came 
there  while  1  was  at  dinner  and  left  them  there.  He  left  the 
bombs  with  the  bookkeeper.     I  never  saw  him  before  or  after." 

Mr.  Ingham  introduced  a  letter  and  a  postal  card  found  in 
Spies'  desk,  the  reading  of  which,  as  translated  by  Mr.  Gauss, 
created  a  great  sensation.  Spies  acknowledged  the  writing  as 
addressed  to  him  by  Johann  Most,  the  noted  Anarchist: 

"Dear  Spies: — Are  you  sure  that  the  letter  from  the  Hock- 
ing Valley  was  not  written  by  a  detective  ?  In  the  week  I  will 
go  to  Pittsburgh,  I  have  an  inclination  also  to  go  to  the  Hock- 
ing Valley.  For  the  present  I  send  you  some  printed  matter. 
There  Sch.  and  II.  also  existed  but  on  paper.  I  told  you  this 
some  months  ago.  On  the  other  hand,  I  am  able  to  furnish 
"medicine"  and  the  "genuine"  article  at  that.  Directions  for 
use  are  perhaps  not  needed  with  these  people.  Moreover,  they 
were  recently  published  in  the  "Fr."      The  appliances  I  can 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  97 

also  send.  Now,  if  you  consider  the  address  of  Buchtell  thor- 
oughly reliable,  I  will  ship  twenty  or  twenty-five  pounds.  But 
how?  Is  there  an  express  line  to  the  place?  Or  is  there  an- 
other way  possible?  Pol  us  the  great  seems  to  delight  in  hop- 
ing about  in  the  swamps  of  the  N.  Y.  V.  Z.,  like  a  blown- up 
(bloated)  frog.  His  tirades  excite  general  detestation.  He  has 
made  himself  immensely  ridiculous.  The  main  thing  is  only 
that  the  fellow  cannot  smuggle  any  more  rotton  elements  into 
the  newspaper  company  than  are  already  in  it.  In  this  regard 
the  caution  is  important.  The  organization  here  is  no  better 
nor  worse  than  formerly.  Our  group  has  about  the  strength  of 
the  North  side  group  in  Chicago,  and  then,  besides  this,  we  have 
also  the  soc.  rev.  (3,  the  Austrian  and  Bohemian  leagues — three 
more  groups.  Finally,  it  is  easily  seen  that  our  influence  with 
the  trade  organizations  is  steadily  growing.  We  insert  our 
meetings  only  in  the  Fr.,  and  cannot  notice  that  they  are  worse 
attended  than  at  the  time  when  we  yet  threw  the  weekly  $1.50 
aud  $2  into  the  mouth  of  the  N.  Y.  V.  Z.  Don't  forget  putting 
yourself  into  communication  with  Drury  in  reference  to  the  En- 
glish organ.  He  will  surely  work  with  you  much  and  well. 
Such  a  paper  is  more  necessary  than  the  Tooth.  This,  indeed, 
is  getting  more  miserable  and  confused  from  issue  to  issue,  and 
in  general  is  whistling  from  the  last  hole.  Inclosed  is  a  fly-leaf 
which  recently  appeared  at  Emden,  and  is,  perhaps,  adopted  for 
reprint.     Greetings  to  Schwab,  Rau,  and  to  you.     Your 

"Johann  Most. 

"  P.  S. — To  Buchtell  I  will,  of  course,  write  for  the  present 
only  in  general  terms. 

"A.  Spies,  107  Fifth  avenue,  Chicago,  111." 


98  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

Mr.  Gauss  then  read  the  following  as  -his  translation  of  the 
postal  card : 

"  Dear  Spies  : — I  had  scarcely  mailed  my  letter  yesterday 
when  the  telegraph  brought  news  froni  H.  M.  One  does  not 
know  whether  to  rejoice  over  that  or  not.  The  advance  in  itself 
is  elevating.  Sad  is  the  circumstance  that  it  will  remain  local 
and  therefore  may  not  have  the  result.  At  any  rate,  these  peo- 
ple made  a  better  impression  than  the  foolish  voters  on  this  and 
the  other  side  of  the  ocean.     Greeting  and  a  hail.     Your 

"J.M." 

W.  A.  S.  Graham,  a  reporter  for  The  Times,  testified  that 
he  talked  with  the  witness  for  the  prosecution,  Harry  Gilmer, 
on  the  afternoon  of  May  5,  and  that  Gilmer  said  the  man  who 
threw  the  bomb  lit  the  fuse  himself.  "  He  said  he  saw  the  man 
light  the  fuse  and  throw  the  bomb,  and  that  he  could  identify 
him  again  if  he  saw  him.  He  said  the  man  was  of  medium  size 
and  had  a  soft  hat  and  whiskers.  He  said  the  man's  back  was 
turned  to  him." 

At  this  stage  the  defense  rested,  and  evidence  in  rebuttal 
was  introduced.  Justice  Daniel  Scully  testified  that  in  the  pre- 
liminary examination  of  one  Frank  Steuner,  charged  with  shoot- 
ing from  the  wagon  at  the  Haymarket,  Ofiicers  Foley  and 
"Wessler  did  not  testify  that  it  was  Steuner  who  fired  on  the 
police. 

"  Did  the  ofiicers  not  say  the  man  who  jumped  up  from  be- 
hind the  wagon  was  a  heavy  man,  with  long  whiskers  (Fielden)  ?" 
—"They  did." 

"  Did  not  Officer  Foley  say  he  would  be  able  to  identify  this 
man  if  he  ever  saw  him  again?  " — "  He  did.' 

John  B.  Ryan,   an  attorney  who  defended   Steuner  before 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  09 

Justice  Scully,  testified  that  Steuner  said  at  the  time  that  the 
man  who  did  the  shooting  was  a  short,  heavy-set  man  with  full 
whiskers. 

United  States  District  Attorney  R.  S.  Tuthill,  Charles  B. 
Dibble,  an  attorney,  Judge  Chester  C.  Cole,  of  Des  Moines, 
Iowa,  E.  R.  Mason,  Clerk  of  the  United  States  District  Court 
at  Des  Moines,  George  Crist,  Ex -City  Marshal  of  Des  Moines, 
and  Ex -Governor  Samuel  Merrill  of  Iowa,  all  testified  to  the 
good  character  of  the  witness  Gilmer.  They  would  believe  him 
under  oath.  Governor  Merrill  had  known  Gilmer  since  1S72, 
and  had  given  him  employment. 

As  the  great  trial  drew  toward  its  close  popular  interest  in 
the  proceedings  increased.  The  Criminal  Court  building  was 
crowded  with  people  daily  long  before  the  hour  for  opening 
court  arrived,  and  many  times  the  number  who  gained  admiss- 
ion were  turned  away.  On  the  day  of  the  closing  argument  by 
the  prosecution,  and  while  the  jury  were  deliberating  over  their 
verdict,  extra  precautions  were  taken  to  protect  the  administra- 
tors of  the  law.  A  cordon  of  police  and  deputy  sheriffs  sur- 
rounded the  building,  and  no  one  was  allowed  to  enter  who 
could  not  be  properly  identified. 


100  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

CHAPTEK  V. 

ARGUMENTS    FOR   THE    PROSECUTION    AND    DEFENSE. 

Assistant  State's- Attorney  Frank  Walker  began  the  open- 
ing argument  for  the  prosecution  Wednesday,  August  11.  The 
speaker  said: 

"We  stand  in  the  temple  of  justice  to  exercise  the  law, 
where  all  men  stand  equal.  No  matter  what  may  have  been 
the  deep  turpitude  of  the  crime,  no  matter  what  may  have  been 
the  design,  t hough  it  aim  even  at  the  overthrow  of  the  law  itself, 
no  man  ought  to  be  convicted  of  the  crime  charged  until  proven 
guilty  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt.  These  men  were  presumed 
innocent  at  the  outset  until  the  proof  presented  by  the  State  es- 
tablished their  guilt.  The  defendants  were  charged  with  mur- 
der. Murder  was  denned  to  be  the  unlawful  killing  of  a  person 
in  the  peace  of  the  people.  An  accessory  was  he  who  stands 
by  and  aids  or  abets  or  advises  the  deed,  or  who,  not  standing 
by,  aids  or  abets  or  advises  the  deed,  and  such  persons  are  to  be 
considered  as  principals  and  punished.  Whether  the  principals 
are  punished  or  not,  they  are  equally  as  guilty  as  the  principals. 
When  a  number  of  persons  conspire  together  to  do  a  certain 
act,  and  when,  in  furtherance  of  this  design,  some  one  is  killed, 
all  those  in  the  conspiracy  are  guilty  of  murder  before  the  fact. 
The  defendant's  counsel  have  told  you  these  men  conspired  to 
precipitate  the  social  revolution,  and  though  that  conspiracy 
cost  Matthias  J.  Degan  his  life,  yet  you  are  told  these  defend- 
ants are  guilty  only  of  murder.  Was  Luther  Payne  or  Mrs. 
Surratt  held  guilty  when  in  the  execution  of  a  conspiracy  Pres- 
ident Lincoln  was  killed?  Neither  Payne  nor  Surratt  com- 
mitted the  deed,  yet  they  were  held  guilty.      There  was  a 


$*'<r{fc\&\ 


^%/vM^ 


COUNSEL  FOR  THE  STATE. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  101 

conspiracy;  it  was  designed  to  bring  about  another  revolution. 
Booth  killed  President  Lincoln,  but  all  who  participated  in  the 
conspiracy  had  to  forfeit  their  lives. 

"If  a  body  of  men,  inflamed  with  resentment,  proceed  to 
pull  down  a  building,  or  to  remove  an  objectionable  obstruc- 
tion and  death  to  some  one  ensues,  each  one  of  these  men  is  individ- 
ually responsible  for  the  killing.  Nobody  knew  this  better  than 
August  Spies,  the  author  of  the  '  Revenge  '  circular.  Suppose 
that  a  body  of  men  undertake  to  pull  down  a  building;  there 
is  a  common  design  to  demolish  that  building,  and  a  stone  is 
thrown,  not  at  any  individual  but  at  the  building,  and  some 
one  is  struck  by  this  stone  and  killed,  all  of  those  engaged  in 
the  execution  of  that  common  design  are  responsable  for  the 
killing  of  this  one  person.  When  there  is  an  intent  grievously 
to  hurt  and  death  is  occasioned,  then  the  offense  is  murder. 
Was  this  man  [pointing  to  Fischer]  in  this  conspiracy  for  mur- 
der? This  man  with  his  revolver  a  foot  long  and  his  file  dag- 
ger with  a  groove?  What  is  this  groove  for?  It  is  for  prussic 
acid.     Was  this  man  in  the  conspiracy? 

Mr.  Walker  then  read  a  passage  from  Most's  "  Revolution- 
ary Warfare"  telling  how  prussic-acid  can  be  applied  to 
groov  d  daggers,  making  them  the  more  deadly.  "  This  is  the 
test:  Was  the  bomb  thrown  in  furtherance  of  the  common 
design  ?  If  it  was  it  makes  no  difference  whether  it  was  thrown 
by  one  of  these  conspirators  here  or  not.  Nobody  had  been 
advocating  the  use  of  dynamite  but  Socialists.  Was  there  any- 
body who  would  throw  a  bomb  except  a  Socialist?  We  have 
proved  that  Lingg  made  the  bomb  in  furtherance  of  the  com- 
mon design.    '  You  have  done  this,  Louis  Lingg,'  said  Huebner, 


102  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

and  Lingg  went  away  and  complained  that  he  was  blamed  for 
doing  the  good  work." 

Mr.  Walker  reiterated  that  every  one  of  the  3,000  men  said 
by  Spies  to  have  participated  in  the  conspiracy  were  equally 
guilty  of  the  murder  of  Officer  Degan.  All  the  members  of 
the  Lehr  und  Wehr  Verein  were  included  in  this  charge.  He 
pointed  out  the  fact  that  nearly  all  of  the  witnesses  for  the  de- 
fense are  members  of  Anarchist  bodies;  that  their  sympathies 
are  with  the  prisoners,  and  that  it  has  been  abundantly  shown 
by  their  cross-examination  that  they  would  not  hesitate  to 
pervert  the  truth  in  order  to  shield  their  confederates  from 
the  consequences  of  their  acts. 

MR.    ZEISLER    FOR   THE    DEFENSE. 

Mr.  Zeisler,  of  the  counsel  for  the  defense,  set  to  work  at 
once  to  tear  Mr.  Walker's  address  to  pieces.  He  accused  the 
assistant  State's  Attorney  of  distorting  the  facts  in  the  case, 
and  attempting  to  bring  about  a  conviction  by  working  on  the 
prejudices  and  suspicions  of  the  jury.  Mr.  Walker  impugned 
the  motives  and  the  characters  of  the  defenses'  witnesses. 
Mr.  Zeisler  continued: 

"  Who  are  their  principal  witnesses  ?  The  policemen  who 
were  at  the  Haymarket.  And  before  we  get  through  we  will 
show  that  these  men  were  not  heroes,  but  knaves,  led  on  by 
the  most  cowardly  knave  who  ever  held  a  public  position.  It 
has  been  proved  that  most  of  these  policemen  who  went  on 
the  stand  had  been  at  one  time  or  another  members  of  the 
detective  force,  and  the  Supreme  Court  tells  us  that  a  detec- 
tive is  a  liar !  " 

The  speaker  went  on  to  attack  the  other   State  witnesses. 


RISE  AND  FALLOF  ANARCHY.  103 

Detectives  are  taken  from  the  criminal  classes.  Harry  L.  Gil- 
mer, he  said,  is  constitutional  liar,  and  the  only  witness  who  has 
been  impeached.  Some  of  the  reporters,  he  acknowledges,  tell 
the  truth,  and  on  their  statements  the  defense  will  partially  rely 
to  show  the  innocence  of  the  prisoners. 

"  Nobody  understands  why  the  police  came  down  to  break 
up  the  meeting.  Detectives  have  sworn  here  that  after  Mr. 
Parsons  suggested  that  the  meeting  adjourn  to  Zephf's  hall,  and 
the  sky  clouded  up,  the  crowd  dwindled  down  to  two  hundred 
or  three  hundred  men,  and  then  came  this  army  of  180  police- 
men, armed  with  clubs  and  revolvers,  headed  by  this  hero,  Bon- 
field,  the  savior  of  his  country,  to  break  up  this  meeting  of 
peaceable  and  unarmed  citizens.  Was  this  courageous,  or  was 
it  cowardly?  It  was  an  assault  in  the  eyes  of  the  law.  The 
counsel  for  the  State  have  attempted  to  make  you  believe  that 
these  disciples  of  Herr  Most  took  a  match  and  lighted  a  bomb 
which  Most  says  should  have  a  fuse  not  longer  than  two  inches. 
Doesn't  it  seem  very  probable  that  they  would  have  lighted  with 
a  match  this  fuse,  which  would  burn  out  in  a  few  seconds,  when 
they  could  have  carried  a  lighted  cigar  to  do  it  with?  We 
have  the  testimony  of  a  number  of  witnesses  that  Spies  was  not 
out  of  the  wagon  till  the  trouble  began ;  and  if  Mr.  Grinnell  had 
had  more  sense  in  the  prosecution  of  this  case;  if  he  had  not 
been  blinded  by  malice  and  prejudice;  if  he  had  not  been  in- 
fluenced by  the  police  conspiracy  to  send  these  men  to  the  gal- 
lows, he  would  have  seen  the  uselessness  of  attempting  to  secure 
a  conviction  by  such  testimony  as  that  of  Gilmer." 

MR.    INGHAM   FOR   THE    PROSECUTION. 

Mr.  George  Ingham  addressed  the  jury  for  the  prosecution. 


104  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

He  told  them  that  there  are  verdicts  which  make  history,  and 
that  theirs  will  be  a  history-making  verdict.  On  the  night  of 
May  4,  at  10  o'clock,  Matthias  J.  Degan  marched  out  of  the 
Desplaines  street  station,  full  of  life,  and  was  soon  afterward 
struck  down  by  the  hands  of  these  defendants,  not  one  of  whom 
he  had  ever  injured.  The  speaker  told  the  jury  again  what 
"  reasonable  doubt "  means.  He  said  that  the  grand  jury  might 
have  indicted  300  men  instead  of  eight,  but  they  saw  fit  to  pick 
out  the  eight  whom  they  deemed  the  leaders  of  the  conspiracy 
against  law  and  human  life.  There  had  been  a  good  deal  of 
talk,  he  said,  about  the  constitutional  right  of  free  speech.  The 
Constitution  gave  the  people  the  right  to  meet  and  petition,  but 
not  to  advise  other  people  to  commit  murder.  This  right  was 
based  upon  the  old  English  common  law,  and  in  England  was 
also  found  a  definition  of  what  constitutes  incitement  to  murder. 
The  case  he  was  going  to  quote  had  also  had  another  connection 
with  the  present  one.  It  was  brought  in  London  in  1881  against 
Johann  Most,  who  was  then  publishing  his  sheet,  the  Freiheit, 
in  that  city.  It  was  shortly  after  the  assassination  of  the  Czar 
of  Russia.  He  there  advocated  the  assassination  of  all  the  heads 
of  States,  from  Constantinople  to  Washington,  and  was  convic- 
ted of  inciting  to  murder.  Mr.  Ingham  read  the  proceedings  in 
the  English  court,  the  article  upon  which  he  was  tried,  and 
Lord  Coleridge's  decision.  Then  he  said:  " It  is  shown  that 
these  defendants — Spies,  Parsons,  Schwab  and  Fischer — were 
engaged  in  the  publication  of  articles  in  which  they  advised  the 
destruction  of  the  police  by  force,  in  which  they  advised  work- 
ing men  to  arm  themselves  with  dynamite  and  be  ready  when- 
ever the  conflict  should  come  to  destroy  the  police  force.  For 
the  publication  of  any  one  of  these  articles  the  defendants  could 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  lu5 

have  been  convicted  of  a  misdemeanor.  And  when  Fielden 
that  night  told  the  people  that  war  had  been  declared  and  that 
they  must  arm  themselves  to  resist  what  had  never  taken  place, 
he  was  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  for  that  reason,  if  for  no 
other,  the  police  had  a  right  to  disperse  the  meeting.  The  treat- 
ment that  Herr  Most  received  in  London  shows  you  that  the 
only  salvation  of  a  community  is  to  enforce  the  letter  of  the  law 
without  sentiment,  that  bloodshed  may  be  avoided.  Herr  Most 
was  convicted  for  the  publication  of  that  article,  and  no  English 
policemen  have  been  blown  up  with  dynamite.  He  came  to 
this  country,  and  the  policemen  who  have  been  blown  up  are 
the  American  officers  right  here  in  this  city.  If  we  have  not 
enforced  the  law  it  is  hi^h  time  that  we  enforce  it  now." 

Mr.  Ingham  then  showed  that  the  Hayrnarket  meeting  was 
a  trap  for  the  police  designed  for  the  purpose  of  leading  them 
into  a  dark,  dangerous  place,  the  speeches  being  the  bait,  art- 
fully increased  until  the  police  came  to  the  alley  and  the  bomb 
could  be  thrown.  "  Now  who  made  the  bomb?  It  is  in  evi- 
dence that  Louis  Lingg  had  been  making  bombs  of  a  certain 
construction  which  Spies  had  said  were  superior,  being  of  com- 
posite metal.  It  is  in  evidence  that  Lingg  all  the  morning  of 
May  4  was  away  from  his  house ;  that  he  upbraided  Seliger  for 
having  made  but  one  bomb.  During  the  afternoon  he  was  busy 
making  bombs,  and  men  came  and  went  and  worked  at  the 
bombs  in  his  house.  There  is  a  story  of  a  man  who  that  day 
received  bombs  and  dynamite  from  Lingg,  showing  that  he  dis- 
tributed them."  Mr.  Ingham  read  to  the  jury  the  chemical 
analysis  of  the  bombs  furnished  by  Drs.  Haines  and  Delafon- 
taine.  What  is  the  answer  to  all  this?  That  the  bomb  was 
not  thrown  from  the  alley,  but  from  thirty-eight  feet  south  of 


106  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

the  alley.  And  if  they  had  satisfied  you  of  that,  was  it  not 
still  thrown  by  one  of  the  Anarchists — one  of  the  conspirators? 
The  bomb  came  from  the  conspiracy.  And  the  moment  it  re- 
sulted in  the  death  of  Degan  the  crime  of  conspiracy  was 
merged  into  the  crime  of  murder. 

"When  Sumter  was  fired  on,  wheD  the  flag  was  insulted, 
when  the  attempt  was  made  to  destroy  the  Government,  it  was 
an  attempt  merely  to  change  the  form  of  government.  When 
the  bomb  in  this  war  was  thrown  it  was  the  opening  shot  of  a 
war  which  should  destroy  all  government,  destroy  all  law, 
leave  men  free  to  live  as  they  see  fit,  and  leave  nothing  to 
guide  but  the  strong  arm.  I  believe  for  myself  that  humanity 
— not  merely  our  people,  not  merely  we  of  America,  but  that 
humanity  the  wide  world  over — has  no  hope  or  no  safety  save 
the  law.  Law  is  the  very  shield  that  guards  the  progression 
of  the  race ;  it  is  the  palladium  of  the  liberty  and  lives  of  all 
people.  Law  which  does  not  punish  murder  breeds  death. 
Jurors  who  from  the  merciful  instincts  of  their  hearts  hesitate 
to  convict  the  guilty,  are,  in  reality,  mercilesss  as  the  grave, 
for  by  their  verdict  they  people  graves  with  the  innocent  vic- 
tims of  midnight  assassination  and  fill  the  mind  with  deeds  of 
blood.  Innocent  blood  from  the  days  of  Abel  till  now  cries 
to  Heaven  for  vengeance ;  innocent  blood  that  contaminates 
the  ground  upon  which  it  falls,  and  from  it  spring  up  dragon's 
teeth.  And  now  if  you  believe  these  men  guilty,  if  you  are 
satisfied  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt,  as  you  cannot  help  but  be, 
that  these  men  were  a  party  to  a  conspiracy  unlawful  in  its 
nature,  and  that  from  that  conspiracy  a  human  life  was  taken, 
that  they  are  murderers  under  that  law,  see  to  it  that  the  maj- 
esty of  the  law  of  the  state  of  Illinois  is  vindicated,  and  its 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  107 

penalties  enforced.  That  is  the  demand  upon  you  this  day  and 
this  hour,  not  only  of  the  people  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  but  of 
humanity  itself ;  for  humanity,  with  all  its  fears,  with  all  its 
hopes  for  future  years,  is  hanging  breathless  on  your  fate." 

MR.    FOSTER    FOR   THE    DEFENSE. 

Mr.  Foster,  who  followed  for  the  defense,  had  not  lived 
long  in  Chicago.  He  came  in  March  from  Davenport.,  Iowa, 
near  which  city  he  was  born  about  forty  years  ago.  He  is  of 
medium  height  and  square  build.  His  features  are  refined 
and  intellectual.  An  abundant  growth  of  rich  auburn  hair 
adorns  his  shapely  head.  Mr.  Foster  obtained  considerable 
fame  as  a  lawyer  in  his  native  state,  took  an  active  part  in  pol- 
itics, and  was  one  of  the  Blaine  Electors  in  188i,  and  was  very 
active  in  the  campaign  of  that  year.  After  having  made  an 
energetic  and  finely-eloquent  plea  to  the  jury  to  cast  aside  all 
prejudice  arising  from  hatred  of  the  principles  of  the  Anar- 
chists, love  of  and  loyalty  to  the  land,  inherent  patriotism,  and 
the  teachings  of  the  popular  press,  Mr.  Foster  proceeded, 
in  order  to  set  himself  right,  to  tear  down  without  apology  the 
theory  of  the  defense  set  up  by  Messrs.  Salomon  <fc  Zeisler.  He 
had  no  defense  to  make  for  Socialism — it  is  dangerous;  Com- 
munism is  pernicious,  and  Anarchism  is  damnable.  Lingg  had 
manufactured  bombs,  and  he  ought  to  be  punished  therefor;  but 
he  was  on  trial  for  throwing,  not  manufacturing  bombs.  Spies, 
Schwab  and  Fischer  had  no  business  to  preach  social  revolution 
in  America.  If  they  were  not  satisfied  with  the  state  of  things 
here  they  ought  to  have  gone  back  to  Germany  and  tried  to  re- 
form things  there.  Mr.  Fielden  might  have  found  occupation 
in  teaching  his  brother  Englishmen  to  be  just  to  Ireland.     Par- 


108  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

sons  he  rebuked  in  an  eloquent  passage  for  his  lack  of  patriot- 
ism. Having  thus  skillfully  set  himself  right  with  the  jurors, 
Mr.  Foster  proceeded  to  define  the  issue  of  the  trial  as  he  under- 
stood it,  and  as  he  wished  the  jury  to  understand  it.  He 
admitted  the  moral  responsibility  of  some  of  the  prisoners  for 
the  crime.     He  denied  their  legal  responsibility. 

"  Our  law  knows  no  citizenship  when  a  defendant  is  brought 
to  the  bar  of  justice.  Our  law  is  grand  enough,  our  law  is 
broad  enough,  the  principles  upon  which  our  Government  is 
founded  are  such  that  it  matters  not  whether  he  be  French,  Ger- 
man, Irish,  Italian,  or  wherever  his  birthplace  may  be.  All 
men  are  equal  before  the  law.  They  are  all  citizens  of  the 
United  States  except  Louis  Lingg.  I  believe  the  testimony 
shows  that  he  has  been  in  the  country  two  years.  I  think  that 
Spies  said  he  came  here  in  infancy.  I  know  as  a  matter  of  fact 
that  Neebe,  born  in  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  never  was  a  for- 
eigner. Schwab  has  been  in  this  country  long  enough  to  be  a 
citizen.  Whether  he  is  or  not  is  entirely  immaterial  for  the 
purposes  of  this  case.  I  know  that  Fielden  has  been  here  more 
than  twenty  years.  I  know  that  Fischer  has  been  in  Chicago 
for  the  last  ten  to  twelve  years,  and  Engel  for  fifteen  or  twenty 
years.  What  is  the  importance  of  the  suggestion  that  they  are 
foreigners,  and  Germans,  except  that  it  is  important  to  wring 
from  you  a  verdict  grounded  on  prejudice.  *  *  *  It  was 
an  open  secret  that  the  defendants  were  indicted  for  murder, 
conspiracy  and  riot,  but  I  will  only  argue  the  question  of  con- 
spiracy so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  crime  of  murder.  The  question 
of  Socialism  was  of  no  importance  unless  it  was  connected  with 
the  murder  of  Degan,  and  the  defendants  were  not  being  tried 
for  any  offense  but  that  of  conspiracy  which  resulted  in  the 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  109 

muraer  of  Degan.  The  prosecution  had  oeen  trying  to  toie  the 
defendants  out  into  the  underbrush  and  assassinate  them  on  im- 
material issues;  but  the  defendants'  counsel  were  too  smart  to 
be  seduced  by  the  song  of  the  siren.  Suppose  Spies  et.  al.  did 
conspire  to  overthrow  society  and  their  conspiracy  stopped 
there,  then  there  was  nothing  to  argue.  A  verdict  rendered 
upon  anything  else  than  a  conspiracy  directly  connected  with 
the  outrage  perpetrated  at  the  Haymarket,  would  fall  to  the 
ground  and  amount  to  nothing/' 

Referring  to  the  popular  clamor  against  the  Socialists,  Mr. 
Foster  said:  "  Outside  of  you  twelve  gentlemen,  the  judge  upon 
the  bench,  and  counsel  on  either  side,  there  is  not  a  man  in  Chi- 
cago who  has  a  right  to  say  he  has  an  opinion  founded  upon  the 
facts  in  this  case.  If  these  men  are  to  be  tried  on  general  prin- 
ciples for  advocating  doctrines  opposed  to  our  ideas  of  propriety, 
there  is  no  use  for  me  to  argue  the  case.  Let  the  Sheriff  go  and 
erect  the  scaffold;  let  him  bring  eight  ropes  with  dangling  nooses 
at  the  ends ;  let  him  pass  them  around  the  necks  of  these  eight 
men ;  and  let  us  stop  this  farce  now,  if  the  verdict  and  convic- 
tion is  to  be  upon  prejudice  and  general  principles.  We  boast 
of  our  courts  of  justice,  of  our  equitable  law,  but  if  the  time  has 
come,  when  men  are  to  be  prejudged  before  the  trial  and  convic- 
ted upon  general  principles,  all  that  is  grand,  sacred,  noble  and 
praiseworthy  in  our  temples  of  justice  will  be  destroyed.  Con- 
sidering the  experience  of  us  all  in  relation  to  this  Haymarket 
tragedy,  considering  the  facts  that  we  know  to  be  true,  do  you 
blame  me  for  saying  I  am  afraid  of  your  passions  ?  I  am  afraid 
of  your  prejudices."  Holding  up  the  Czar  bomb,  Mr.  Foster 
exclaimed  in  a  loud  voice :  "Hang  Spies,  and  Neebe,  and 
Schwab,  and  Parsons,  and  Fielden,  and  Fischer,  and  Lingg,  and 


110  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

Engel !  "  Taking  up  a  tin  dynamite  can  lie  continued:  "Among 
other  things,  three  tin  cans  were  found  under  a  sidewalk  in  the 
city.  Strangle  them  to  death,  in  part  because  these  three  cans 
were  found !  When  were  they  in  possession  of  any  of  the  de- 
fendants? Never,  so  far  as  the  testimony  is  concerned.  When 
were  they  prepared  and  filled  at  the  house  of  any  of  the  defend- 
ants, or  any  of  their  associates?  Never,  so  far  as  the  testimony 
is  concerned.  And  yet  they  are  not  only  introduced  in  evidence, 
their  contents  examined  and  sworn  to,  but  you  are  expected  to 
smell  them;  you  are  asked  to  examine  them  at  the  risk  of  a 
headache,  and  they  want  your  noses  near  to  their  tops.  Why? 
Because  they  were  found  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  And  that  is 
part  of  the  testimony  upon  which  the  lives  of  these  eight  men 
are  to  be  destroyed.  But  it  is  all  in  a  lifetime ;  it  is  all  part  of 
the  grand  combination ;  it  is  all  in  the  great  conspiracy,  because 
counsel  tell  us  it  is.  Such  evidence  was  never  introduced  in  any 
court  of  justice  in  the  civilized  world  without  objection.  It 
was  said  Herr  Most  described  such  things  in  his  book  on  '  Rev- 
olutionary Warfare.'  There  is  not  a  word  of  testimony  that 
any  of  the  defendants  ever  read  that  book.  But  that  does  not 
make  any  difference.  They  are  Socialists — hang  them.  That 
does  not  make  any  difference.  They  are  Communists — hang 
them;  they  are  Anarchists — hang  them.  I  always  supposed 
that  the  lowest  creature  that  possessed  life  was  entitled  to  some 
consideration.  I  supposed  there  was  not  a  thing  in  existence 
so  low,  so  poor  or  loathsome,  but  had  some  rights,  and  I  do  not 
believe  it  now,  except  it  be  a  Socialist,  Communist  or  Anar 
chist.  That  puts  them  beyond  the  pale  of  civilization ;  it  puts 
them  beyond  the  protection  of  the  law;  it  convicts  them  of 
itself." 


W.  F.  BLACK  AND  WIFE. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  m 

CAPTAIN    W.    P.    BLACK    FOR   THE    DEFENSE. 

On  Tuesday,  August  17,  the  fiftieth  aay  of  the  trial,  Cap- 
tain W.  P.  Black,  fhe  leading  counsel  for  the  defense,  made  his 
plea.     He  said: 

"  May  it  please  the  Court,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  jury :  On 
the  morning  of  May  5,  1886,  the  good  people  of  Chicago  were 
startled  at  the  event  which  happened  at  the  Haymarket. 
Fear  is  the  mother  of  cruelty,  and  perhaps  that  will  account  in 
some  measure  for  the  bitterness  with  which  the  State  has  pros- 
ecuted this  case.  The  serious  question  which  confronts  us, 
however,  is  to  what  extent,  you,  gentlemen,  in  your  delibera- 
tions, may  be  influenced  by  passion  or  by  prejudice.  On  the 
night  of  May  4  a  dynamite  bomb  was  thrown  at  the  Haymarket 
in  this  city  and  exploded.  It  caused  widespread  havoc  and  loss 
of  human  life.  But  the  moral  responsibility  for  dynamite  does 
not  rest  upon  the  Socialists.  This  explosive  was  given  to  the 
world  by  science.  We  might  well  stand  appalled  at  the  dread 
results  this  terrible  agent  is  capable  of  producing.  When  a 
man  is  charged,  or  sought  to  be  charged,  with  a  crime,  as  in  this 
case,  the  people  must  show  who  threw  the  bomb — who  did  the 
deed — and  must  show  that  these  defendants  were  connected 
directly  with  the  guilty  man.1' 

The  speaker  said  that  counsel  for  the  State  were  wrong 
when  one  of  them  advised  the  jury  that  upon  them  it  depended 
to  maintain  the  law  and  government,  because  these  defendants 
plotted  against  the  state.  They  were  revolutionists,  it  was  said, 
but  that  was  not  true.  There  can  be  no  revolution,  though,  ex- 
cept when  the  heart  of  the  people  rise  to  redress  some  great 
wrong. 


112  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

11  As  to  the  witnesses  for  the  State,  the  testimony  of  two  of 
them,  Gilmer  and  Thompson,  who  swore  to  having  seen  Schnau- 
belt  throw  the  bomb,  was  impeached.  Gilmer's  story  was  ut- 
terly improbable  in  itself;  the  rational  mind  rejected  it.  Is  it 
credible?  Mr.  Iughain  has  said  Spies  was  the  brainiest  man 
among  the  Anarchists,  and  the  greatest  coward.  The  witness 
Gilmer  testified  that  he  saw  Spies  get  down  from  the  wagon  and 
go  into  the  alley  with  Schnaubelt;  saw  him  strike  the  light,  fire 
the  bomb,  and  give  it  to  Schnaubelt,  who  hurled  it  among  the 
police.  Is  that  credible?  Remember,  Spies,  a  man  of  brains, 
of  more  than  average  brains ;  would  he  light  the  match  that  fired 
that  bomb,  and  the  police  almost  upon  him  ?  Is  that  credible  ? 
It  was  also  said  Spies  was  a  great  coward.  Then,  if  that  were 
true,  would  he  ran  the  risk  of  lighting  the  bomb  ?  The  counter- 
proof  was  abundant.  A  half  a  dozen  reputable  citizens  stand- 
ing in  the  mouth  of  the  alley  had  testified  that  they  did  not  see 
Spies  leave  the  wagon,  and  that  he  did  not  enter  the  alley  before 
the  bomb  exploded.  This  was  negative  testimony,  it  was  true, 
but  considering  the  narrow  space  and  how  unlikely  it  was  that 
Spies,  whom  they  all  knew,  could  enter  the  alley  without  being 
seen  by  the  witnesses,  it  was  conclusive.  Again,  two  or  three 
witnesses  testified  that  Schnaubelt  went  home  early  in  the  even- 
ing, disappointed  because  there  was  no  German  speaking,  and 
was  not  at  the  Haymarket  when  the  explosion  took  place." 

The  circumstantial  evidence  presented  by  the  State,  and  by 
which  it  was  sought  to  enmesh  the  defendants,  was  next  consid- 
ered. The  case  of  the  state  was  substantially  this .  The  meet 
ing  at  the  Haymarket  May  4  was  an  incident  in  the  carrying  out 
of  an  organized  scheme.  August  Spies  was  there  to  precipitate 
a  conflict  with  the  police.     He  put  Parsons  on  the  stand,  who 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  113 

made  a  long  harangue,  but  the  police  did  not  appear.  Then 
Fielden  was  put  up  to  speak.  The  police  came,  and  the  act  was 
accomplished.  But  who  called  this  meeting?  Not  Spies,  not 
Neebe,  not  Parsons,  not  Schwab,  nor  Engel,  nor  Lingg,  nor 
Fischer,  as  an  individual  act.  It  was  the  result  of  another  meet- 
ing, held  the  night  before  at  54  West  Lake  street,  and  about 
which  Spies  knew  nothing. 

"  Again,  the  State  wished  it  to  be  understood  that  Spies,  in 
order  to  get  the  men  ripe  for  revolt,  went  out  to  McCormick's 
Ma}'  3,  and  forced  himself  on  a  meeting  there.  Then,  having 
worked  up  his  auditors  to  a  pitch  of  excitement  and  inflamed 
them  to  attack  the  non-union  men,  he  came  down  town  and 
wrote  the  'Revenge1  circular,  calling  for  the  Haymarket  meet- 
ing. But  did  he  encourage  the  men  at  McCormick's  to  violence? 
The  testimony,  and  it  was  not  controverted,  proved  that  he 
counseled  peace  ;  that  he  told  the  men  to  stand  firm  and  to  trust 
to  concerted  action  for  the  attainment  of  their  ends.  The  fur- 
ther circumstance  proving  that  no  violence  was  contemplated 
that  night  consisted  in  this,  that  when  the  black  cloud  came  up 
and  rain  was  threatened,  an  adjournment  was  proposed.  Fiel- 
den had  the  stand  at  that  time,  but  he,  simple  soul,  begged  a 
few  minutes'  delay,  saying  he  had  but  little  more  to  say,  and 
then  in  all  simplicity  went  on  to  say  it.  All  this  was  in  the 
line  going  to  prove  that  Spies  had  no  connection  with  the  al- 
leged conspiracy.  The  circular  calling  for  the  Tuesday  night 
meeting  referred  to  a  specific  object.  Do  not  the  circumstan- 
ces," continued  Captain  Black,  "prove  that  August  Spies  was 
not  aware  of  the  meeting  held  May  3  ?  Do  they  not  prove  that 
he  could  have  no  share  in  the  design  of  that  meeting,  of  which 
the  one  at  Haymarket,  with  its  result,  was  an  incident  in  the 


114  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

general  conspiracy  ?  As  to  the  Haymarket  meeting,  was  it  not 
a  lawful  assemblage  ?  Who  first  broke  the  laws  ?  That  meet- 
ing  was  called  by  a  circular.  It  was  called  to  denounce  a  griev- 
ance. Perhaps  there  was  no  real  grievance,  but  if  the  projec- 
tors of  the  meeting  thought  there  was  they  had  the  right  to 
assemble.  The  Constitution  given  us  by  our  forefathers  who 
made  the  name  of  revolutionists  glorious,  gave  us  that  right. 
That  right  was  incorporated  in  the  fundamental  laws  of  the 
nation.  One  clause  in  the  Constitution  allows  the  people  to  as- 
semble together  in  a  peaceable  manner  to  discuss  their  griev- 
ances, another  provides  that  the  people  have  the  right  to 
assemble  together  in  a  peaceable  manner  to  discuss  measures  for 
their  common  good,  and  to  instruct  their  representatives.  I  am 
not  here  to  defend  Socialism,  nor  do  I  contend  that  Anarchy 
has  in  it  the  elements  of  true  reform,  but  I  am  here  to  defend 
these  men.  They  are  Socialists.  That  system  centuries  ago 
had  the  sanction  of  St.  Augustine.  John  Stuart  Mill  is  one  of 
a  great  host  of  philosophers  who  have  subscribed  in  fealty  to 
Socialism. 

"  These  defendants  have  the  right  to  discuss  the  great 
wrongs  of  the  working  people.  They  have  the  right  to  try 
their  remedy.  They  say  that  private  property  is  robbery.  That 
may  be  false.  There  is  not  a  Catholic  organization  that  is  not 
founded  on  the  idea  of  common  co-operation.  It  was  Plato's 
dream  that  the  means  of  existence  should  be  the  common  prop- 
erty of  all.  The  Anarchist  or  Socialist  was  said  to  believe 
that  every  law  of  man  was  a  bone  of  contention,  intended  for 
the  benefit  of  one  class  only.  The  fact  that  these  defendants 
are  Anarchists  is  not  a  fact  which  would  justify  the  jury  in 


JULIUS  S.  GRINNELL. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY  115 

taking  their  lives.     These  men  are  not  the  lazy  fellows  pic- 
tured by  the  state." 

STATE'S  ATTORNEY  JULIUS  S.  GRINNELL  FOR  THE  PROSECUTION. 

State's  Attorney  Grinnell  closed  for  the  State,  and  he  be- 
gan his  remarks  by  criticising  counsel  for  the  defense  for  mak- 
ing heroes  of  the  prisoners.  The  Anarchists  were  compared 
to  the  fathers  of  our  country  ;  they  were  pictured  as  martyrs, 
as  men  who  sacrificed  themselves  for  the  welfare  of  human 
kind.  If  that  be  so,  songs  of  praise  should  be  sung,  and  the 
Anarchists  ought  to  be  garlanded  with  flowers.  Captain  Black 
had  said  that  society  was  discriminating  against  the  poor ;  that 
the  struggle  for  existence  was  daily  becoming  harder.  That 
was  not  true,  for  civil  liberty  was  never  before  as  widespread 
as  it  is  at  present.  Mr.  Grinnell  said  the  case  had  received  his 
entire  attention  since  May  5.  Government  was  on  trial.  Mur- 
der had  been  committed.  It  was  sought  to  know  who  was 
responsible.  For  a  few  days  after  the  Haymarket  riot  it  was 
not  thought  it  was  more  far-reaching  than  the  results  of  the 
inflammatory  speech-making.  It  was  not  until  after  the  mag- 
nificent efforts  of  Captain  Schaack  that  a  conspiracy  was  devel- 
oped. Then  Schnaubelt  was  discovered.  It  was  not  until  after 
Spies  was  arrested  that  it  became  apparent  that  a  man  was 
capable  of  the  hellish  act  in  which  he  was  concerned.  A  mis- 
take had  been  made.  It  was  said  the  State  would  .show  who 
the  bomb  thrower  was.  This  had  not  been  done,  owing  to  the 
inability  of  certain  witnesses  to  make  good  on  the  stand  the 
statements  they  had  before  made  to  the  officers.  These  men 
were  not  Socialists,  but  Anarchists,  and  their  creed  is  no  gov- 
ernment, no  law.     Until  placed  on  the  stand  these  men  never 


116  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

hedged  on  that  definition.  It  was  sought  to  be  shown  that  the 
defendants  were  barking  dogs  that  would  not  bite.  These  men 
were  on  trial,  law  was  on  trial,  Anarchy  was  on  trial  for  trea- 
son. The  penalty  of  treason  is  death.  A  man  can  commit  an 
overt  act  of  treason,  and  not  kill  anybody.  Is  it  any  the  less 
treason  because  seven  men  are  killed  and  sixty  wounded? 
There  is  no  statute  of  limitation  for  threats,  when  repeated 
threats  resulted  in  the  commission  of  the  deed.  For  years  past, 
on  the  Lake  front  and  at  the  different  so-called  Socialistic  halls 
in  the  city,  these  men  had  preached  the  use  of  dynamite,  poison 
and  daggers  as  a  means  of  effecting  the  social  revolution.  The 
thing  should  have  been  stopped  long  ago.  But  that  was  foreign 
to  the  case.  The  men  were  here  now  on  trial  for  murder. 
Their  threats  had  been  carried  out.  It  did  not  matter  whether 
any  police  officers  had  overstepped  their  duty;  the  jury  had 
nothing  at  all  to  do  with  that.  The  accused  were  on  trial  for 
murder. 

On  the  Lake  front  the  Anarchists  were  wont  to  assemble 
under  the  red  flag,  which  they  described  as  the  emblem  of  un- 
iversal liberty.  But  there  was  but  one  flag  of  liberty — that 
was  the  Stars  and  Stripes ;  and  it  would  always  remain  such  if 
the  gentlemen  of  the  jury  had  the  courage  to  nphold  the  law. 
Threats  had  been  mouthed,  dire  vaporings  were  spread  from  one 
group  to  another  to  fill  the  people  with  terror,  so  that  the  social 
revolution  might  the  more  easily  be  accomplished.  Mr.  Grinnell 
holds  that  Spies  wrote  the  "  Revenge'1  circular  premeditatedly. 
He  reads  it  to  the  jury  commenting  on  various  passages  con- 
tained therein,  and  makes  it  plain  to  the  jury  that  Spies  had  an 
ulterior  and  sinister  purpose  in  view  when  he  penned  the  fam- 
ous dodger.     There  were  only  two  officers  at  McCormicks  when 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  117 

the  mob  Spies  was  addressing  broke  loose  and  attacked  the 
non-union  men.  The  police  were  called,  but  why?  To  protect 
the  McCormick  property  and  the  two  officers  from  the  fury  of 
the  mob  as  well  as  to  save  the  non-union  men  from  being  killed. 
It  was  this  sight — the  coming  of  additional  police — that  made 
the  blood  of  the  valorous  Spies  boil.  Knowing  that  no  fatali- 
ties had  taken  place,  or  not  knowing  that  any  had  occured, 
Spies  posted  down  town,  and  the  "Revenge"  circular  was 
written  by  him  and  in  the  hands  of  the  printer  before  5  o'clock 
that  same  afternoon.  Balthazar  Rau's  name  was  mentioned  every 
day,  time  and  time  again  by  the  defense,  but  he  was  not  called 
as  a  witness.  They  were  afraid  to  put  him  on  the  stand.  It 
was  Rau  who  invited  Sj)ies  to  address  the  Haymarket  meeting, 
and  he  was  present  when  Spies  made  his  speech.  That  was  a 
kind  of  Marc  Antony  address,  and  to  be  understood  one  must 
read  it  between  the  lines.  It  was  artfully  calculated  to  inflame. 
It  was  a  significant  opening.  The  working  men  were  told  to 
come  armed.  Waller  did  come  armed.  The  police  should  have 
broken  up  the  meeting  in  its  incipiency.  If  Bonfield  had  not 
gone  down  there  at  the  time  he  did  the  riot  would  have  been 
general.  The  reason  more  bombs  were  not  thrown  was  that 
the  other  fellows  in  the  conspiracy  had  not  time  to  reach  the 
scene.  The  man  who  threw  the  bomb  obtained  it  from  Lingg 
or  Spies,  and  hurled  it  according  to  directions  received  from  one 
or  other  of  these  men.  Did  Fielden  shoot  that  night?  For 
years  past  he  has  called  the  police  bloodhounds;  he  said  he 
would  march  down  Michigan  avenue  with  the  red  flag  or  the 
black  flag,  and  preached  "  death  to  the  capitalists  and  the  pol- 
ice, our  despoilers.1'  This  must  be  understood  above  all  things; 
that  the  bomb  was  thrown  in  furtherance  of  the  common  design, 


118  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

no  matter  who  threw  it.  Gilmer  said  Spies  handed  the  bomb 
to  Schnaubelt.  Is  that  improbable?  For  years  he  preached 
the  throwing  of  bombs.  An  article  over  his  own  signature  is 
in  evidence,  and  in  this  he  gives  directions  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  bombs  should  be  ignited  and  hurled  at  the  enemy.  Who 
was  Schnaubelt?  Schwab's  brother-in-law.  He  is  the  man 
who  was  arrested  before  the  conspiracy  was  known  and  let  go, 
then  shaved  off  his  whiskers,  and  has  not  been  seen  since.  A 
peculiar  circumstance,  and  the  most  significant  of  the  case,  was 
that  when  Spies  was  arrested  he  left  the  traces  of  his  crime  in 
his  office.  Bonfield  arrested  him.  Spies  said  he  went  over  to 
the  Central  station  unsuspectingly.  Had  he  known  what  was 
going  to  have  happened  he  would  have  destroyed  the  "  Euhe  " 
manuscript.  It  was  the  little  mistakes  that  brought  the  crim- 
inal to  justice,  and  there  never  was  a  criminal,  big  or  little,  that 
did  not  leave  traces  of  his  crime  behind  him. 

Mr.  Grinnell  concluded  by  saying  his  labor  was  over;  the 
jury's  was  just  begun.  They  had  the  power  to  exact  the  lives 
of  some  of  the  prisoners,  to  others  they  might  give  a  term  of 
years  in  the  penitentiary,  and  some  again  they  might  acquit. 
He  would  not  ask  the  jury  to  take  the  life  of  Oscar  Neebe.  He 
would  not  ask  the  jury  to  do  what  he  would  not  do  himself. 
The  proof  was  not  sufficient  to  convict  Neebe,  but  some  of  them, 
Spies,  Fischer,  Lingg,  Engel,  Fielden,  Parsons  and  Schwab, 
ought  to  have  the  extreme  penalty  administered  to  them. 

"  Personally,1'  said  Mr.  Grinnell,  "  I  have  not  a  word  to  say 
against  these  men.  But  the  law  demands  that  they  be  punished. 
They  have  violated  the  law,  and  you,  gentlemen  of  the  jury, 
stand  between  the  living  and  the  dead.  Do  your  duty.  Do 
not  disagree.     If  you  think  that  some  of  them  do  not  deserve 


JOS.  E.  GARY. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  119 

the  death  penalty  give  them  a  life  sentence,  out  do  not  disagree. 
Gentlemen,  this  is  no  pleasant  task  for  me,  but  it  is  my  duty; 
do  yours." 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    INSTRUCTIONS    OF    THE    COURT. 

In  his  instructions  to  the  jury  Judge  Gary  said:  "  The  Court 
instructs  the  jury  that  whoever  is  guilty  of  murder  shall  suffer 
the  punishment  of  death,  or  imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary 
for  his  natural  life,  or  for  a  term  of  not  less  than  fourteen  years. 
If  the  accused  are  found  guilty  by  a  jury  they  shall  fix  the  pun 
ishment  by  their  verdict. 

"  The  Court  instructs  the  j  ury  as  a  matter  of  law  that,  in 
considering  the  case,  the  jury  are  not  to  go  beyond  the  evidence 
to  hunt  up  doubts,  nor  must  they  entertain  such  doubts  as  are 
merely  chimerical  or  conjectural.  A  doubt  to  justify  an  ac- 
quittal must  be  reasonable,  and  must  arise  from  a  candid  and 
impartial  investigation  of  all  the  evidence  in  the  case,  and  unless 
it  is  such  that,  were  the  same  kind  of  doubt  interposed  in  the 
graver  transactions  of  life,  it  would  cause  a  reasonable  and  pru- 
dent man  to  hesitate  and  pause,  it  is  sufficient  to  authorize  a 
verdict  of  not  guilty.  If,  after  considering  all  the  evidence,  you 
can  say  you  have  an  abiding  conviction  of  the  truth  of  the 
charge,  you  are  satisfied  beyond  a  reasonable  doubt. 

"  If  it  does  so  prove,  then  your  duty  to  the  State  requires 
you  to  convict  whosoever  is  found  guilty.  The  case  of  each  of 
the  defendants  should  be  considered  with  the  same  care  and 
scrutiny  as  if  he  alone  were  on  trial.  If  a  conspiracy  having 
violence  and  murder  as  its  object  is  fully  proved,  then  the  acts 
and  declarations  of  each  one  of  the  conspirators,  before  or  after 


12o  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

May  4,  which  are  merely  narrative  as  to  what  had  been  or  would 
be  done,  and  not  made  to  aid  in  carrying  into  effect  the  object 
of  the  conspiracy,  are  only  evidence  against  the  person  who 
made  them.  AVhat  are  the  facts  and  what  is  the  truth  the  jury 
must  determine  from  the  evidence,  and  from  that  alone.  If 
there  are  any  unguarded  expressions  in  any  of  the  instructions 
which  seem  to  assume  the  existence  of  any  facts,  or  to  be  any 
intimation  as  to  what  is  proved,  all  such  expressions  must  be 
discouraged  and  the  evidence  only  looked  to,  to  determine  the 
facts. 

"  The  Court  instructs  the  jury  as  a  matter  of  law  that  an 
accessory  is  he  who  stands  by  and  aids,  abets,  or  assists,  or  who, 
not  being  present,  aiding,  abetting,  or  assisting,  has  advised,  en- 
couraged, aided  or  abetted  the  perpetration  of  that  caime.  He 
who  thus  aids,  abets,  assists,  advises  or  encourages  shall  be  con- 
sidered as  a  principal  and  punished  accordingly.  Every  such 
accessory  when  a  crime  is  committed  within  or  without  this 
state  by  his  aid  or  procurement  in  this  state,  may  be  indicted 
and  convicted  at  the  same  time  as  the  principal,  or  before  or 
after  his  conviction,  and  whether  the  principal  is  convicted  or 
amenable  to  justice  or  not,  and  punished  as  principal. 

"  If  the  defendants  attempted  to  overthrow  the  law  by  force 
and  threw  the  bomb,  then  the  defendants  who  were  in  the  con- 
spiracy were  guilty  of  murder.  If  there  was  an  Anarchistic 
conspiracy,  and  the  defendants  were  parties  to  it,  they  are  guilty 
of  murder,  though  the  date  of  the  culmination  of  the  conspiracy 
was  not  fixed.  If  any  of  the  defendants  conspired  to  excite  by 
advice  people  to  riot  and  murder,  such  defendants  are  guilty  if 
such  murder  was  done  in  pursuance  of  said  conspiracy ;  the  im- 
practicalness  of  the  aim  of  the  defendants  is  immaterial. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  121 

"  Circumstantial  evidence  is  competent  to  prove  guilt,  and 
if  defendants  conspired  to  overthrow  the  law  and  Degan  was 
killed  in  consequence,  the  parties  are  guilty,  and  it  is  not  neces- 
sary that  any  of  the  defendants  were  present  at  the  killing. 

"  All  parties  to  the  conspiracy  are  equally  guilty.  Circum- 
stantial evidence  must  satisfy  the  jury  beyond  reasonable  doubt. 
In  such  case  the  jury  may  find  defendants  guilty.  When  defen- 
dants testified  in  the  case  they  stood  on  the  same  ground  as 
other  witnesses." 

THE    VERDICT. 

The  jury  retired  at  2 :50  o'clock  Thursday,  August  19.  The 
first  intimation  that  an  agreement  had  been  reached  was  when 
word  was  sent  to  the  Revere  house  to  prepare  supper  for  the 
jury,  it  having  been  understood  that  unless  a  decision  as  to  the 
fate  of  the  prisoners  was  reached  before  10  o'clock,  supper 
would  not  be  served  at  that  time.  Friday  morning  the  excite- 
ment of  the  crowd  in  front  of  the  Criminal  Court  building  was 
something  intense  while  the  verdict  was  being  awaited.  There 
was  none  of  the  joking  and  laughing  that  is  heard  on  the  only 
other  occasion  that  brings  a  mob  to  stand  without  those  dreary 
walls — the  execution  of  a  convicted  criminal.  Such  conversa- 
tions as  were  held  were  in  a  low  tone,  and  related  solely  to  the 
one  topic — the  probable  conviction  of  the  eight  prisoners  who 
were  waiting  for  the  hour  which  was  to  mean  life  or  death  to 
them.  Both  sides  of  the  street  were  lined  with  people  who 
awaited  anxiously  for  some  tidings  from  the  court  within.  An 
army  of  bailiffs  and  policemen  guarded  the  big  doors,  and  the 
surging  masses  were  only  kept  back  by  sheer  force.  The  lim- 
ited number  who  obtained  admission  to  courtroom  were  the 


122  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

reporters  and  the  immediate  friends  and  relatives  of  the  defen- 
dants. The  gaily-dressed  women  who  had  attended  the  trial 
since  the  start  were  not  there.  The  court  officials  decided  that 
the  relatives  of  the  prisoners  should  be  allowed  in  the  court- 
room, and  at  9:15  o'clock  the  sister  of  Spies,  with  another  young 
woman,  made  her  appearance.  Shortly  afterward  the  mother 
of  Spies,  accompanied  by  a  younger  son,  also  entered  the  court- 
room and  took  a  seat  on  the  back  benches.  At  9:20  Mrs.  Par- 
sons entered  the  court  room,  accompanied  by  a  woman  who 
attended  her  throughout  the  trial.  She  was  given  a  seat  be- 
tween two  policemen.  The  row  of  seats  farthest  removed  from 
the  judge  were  occupied  by  a  force  of  police  officers.  Next  be- 
low, seated  in  the  order  named,  were  Hemy  Spies;  Mrs.  Spies, 
the  prisoner's  mother;  Miss  Spies;  Chris  Spies,  and  a  young 
lady  friend.  Next  below  was  Mrs.  Martin.  The  ladies  looked 
anxious.  Mrs.  and  Miss  Spies  and  Mrs.  Parsons  looked  worn 
out,  though  the  latter  tried  to  appear  unconcerned,  and  occu- 
pied her  time  in  reading  newspapers.  It  was  9:50  o'clock  when 
the  Judge  came  in.  He  looked  nervous  and  excited.  He  was 
barely  seated  when  Captain  Black  entered.  The  Captain  took 
a  seat  near  his  wife.     He  had  just  paid  a  visit  to  his  clients. 

"Are  they  prepared  for  the  worst?"  asked  Mrs.  Black, 
anxiously. 

"  Prepared! "  repeated  the  Captain.  "  Yes ;  fully  prepared 
to  laugh  at  death.  They  talk  about  the  matter  much  more 
coolly  than  I  can.1' 

A  moment  or  two  later  the  prisoners  were  brought  in. 
They  were  not  given  their  usual  seats,  but  placed  in  a  row  on 
a  bench  against  the  wall  at  the  Judge's  left,  in  the  narrow  aisle 
leading  to  the  passage  way  to  the  jail.     They  sat  in  the  same 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  123 

old  order.  Spies  was  at  the  head,  next  to  the  judge.  All 
looked  haggared  and  excited.  Even  the  usually  stocial  face  of 
Lingg  wore  an  expression  of  anxiety.  Fischer  was  deathly  pale 
and  trembled  visibly.  These  pale  and  trembling  wretches 
were  the  braggarts  who  a  few  short  weeks  before  were  boldly 
proclaiming  the  doctrines  of  Socialism  and  Anarchy  on  the  Lake 
front,  in  Zephfs  hall  and  the  beer  saloons  of  the  North  and 
West  sides.  They  were  the  men  who  were  advocating  force 
and  the  use  of  dynamite,  and  the  total  annihilation  of  law  and 
order,  the  theft  of  property,  and  murder  of  citizens.  Their 
vapid  mouthings  were  thrust  upon  assemblages  of  decent  work- 
ingmen,  their  policy  was  Communism,  their  banner  was  the 
banner  of  blood,  and  their  teachings  were  death  and  destruction. 
Bold  and  fearless  as  lions  they  appeared  when  indulging  in 
nights  of  incendiary  oratory.  Like  dumb,  obedient  beasts  they 
bowed  in  submission  before  the  most  powerful  scourge  the  law 
can  wield — the  death  verdict. 

The  jurymen  filed  in  and  took  their  seats  in  the  jury  box. 
They  looked  determined  and  resolute.  There  was  a  death-like 
silence  in  the  court.  In  a  low  voice  the  Judge  asked:  "  Gen- 
tlemen, have  you  agreed?"  F.  E.  Osborne,  the  foreman,  rose 
and  replied:  "  We  have,  your  honor."  Taking  out  two  sheets 
of  foolscap  from  his  side  coat-pocket,  he  handed  them  to  Clerk 
Doyle,  who  glanced  at  them  and  handed  them  to  the  Judge, 
who  slipped  them  apart,  trembling  so  that  the  leaves  shook 
violently.  A  whispered  consultation  between  the  Judge  and 
the  Clerk  followed,  and  the  document  was  returned  to  Mr. 
Doyle,  who  read: 

"  We,  the  jury,  find  the  defendants,  August  Spies,  Michael 
Schwab,  Samuel  Fielden,  Albert  II.  Parsons,  Adolph  Fischer, 


124  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

George  Engel  and  Louis  Lingg,  guilty  of  murder,  as  charged 
in  the  indictment,  and  fix  the  penalty  at  death. 

"  We  find  the  defendant,  Oscar  Neebe,  guilty  of  murder  in 
manner  and  form  as  charged  in  the  indictment,  and  fix  the  pen- 
alty at  imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary  for  a  term  of  fifteen 
years." 

Not  a  sound  came  from,  the  spectators,  For  a  moment  the 
courtroom  was  silent  as  the  tomb.  The  prisoners  were  struck 
with  horror.  Spies'  face  blanched  white  as  the  paper  on  which 
his  death  sentence  was  written.  His  lips  quivered,  and  he  me- 
chanically tapped  the  floor  with  his  foot  and  nervously  stroked 
his  moustache.  Neebe  was  completely  stunned.  The  blood 
rushed  to  his  face,  and  the  perspiration  stood  out  on  his  fore- 
head in  great  drops.  Schwab's  yellow  face  seemed  to  look  into 
vacancy,  and  he  had  a  wandering,  stupid  stare.  Parsons  was 
visibly  affected,  but  he  kept  himself  up  better  than  the  rest,  and 
maintained  a  certain  air  of  nonchalance.  He  made  an  effort  to 
flaunt  a  red  handkerchief  out  of  the  window  at  the  crowd  on 
the  outside,  but  was  promptly  checked  by  a  bailiff.  Fielden 
fairly  quaked.  He  shook  like  an  aspen  leaf,  and  in  every  way 
showed  his  great  fear.  Fischer  was  ghastly.  When  the  verdict 
was  first  being  read  he  held  a  half-consumed  cigar  in  his  mouth, 
but  when  the  death  penalty  was  reached  the  weed  fell  from  his 
lij)s  to  the  floor.  Lingg  appeared  sullen  and  stoical,  but  when 
the  sentence  was  read  his  face  flushed,  and  he  was  seen  to  trem- 
ble. Engel  betrayed  no  emotion.  When  the  verdict  became 
known  to  the  thousands  assembled  outside  a  great  cheer  rent 
the  air. 

Captain  Black  asked  that  the  jury  be  polled.  The  jury- 
men answered  with  firm  voices.     Captain  Black  said  he  would 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  125 

desire  to  make  a  motion  for  a  new  trial.  State's  Attorney 
Grinnell  said  it  would  be  impossible  to  dispose  of  the  motion 
during  the  present  term,  but  by  agreement,  the  motion  could  be 
argued  at  the  September  term.  This  was  agreed  to  by  the 
defense. 

The  Court. — "  Let  the  motion  be  entered  and  continued 
until  the  next  term,  and  let  the  defendants  be  taken  back  to 
jail."  Judge  Gary  then  arose  and  addressed  the  jury  as  fol- 
lows: 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury  : — You  have  finished  this  long 
and  very  arduous  trial,  which  has  required  a  very  considerable 
sacrifice  of  time,  and  some  hardship.  I  hope  that  everything 
has  been  done  that  could  possibly  be  done  to  make  those  sac- 
rifices and  hardships  as  mild  as  might  be  permitted.  It  does 
not  become  me  to  say  anything  in  regard  to  the  case  that  you 
have  tried,  or  the  verdict  you  have  rendered;  but  men  compul- 
sorily  serving  as  jurors,  as  you  have  done,  deserve  some  recog- 
nition of  the  service  you  have  performed  besides  the  meager 
compensation  you  have  received." 

The  Foreman  of  the  jury  said:  "  The  jury  have  deputed  to 
me  the  only  agreeable  duty,  that  it  is  in  our  province  to  perform, 
and  that  is  to  thank  the  Court  and  the  counsel  for  the  defense 
and  for  the  prosecution,  for  your  kindly  care  to  make  us  as  com- 
fortable as  possible  during  our  confinement.     We  thank  you." 

The  jury  then  filed  out,  and  scarcely  had  they  left  the  room 
when  a  shrill  voice  was  heard,  and  Mrs.  Schwab  fell  heavily  to 
the  floor.  She  was  taken  out  into  the  fresh  air  by  policemen, 
and  soon  revived.  Mrs.  Spies  followed  up  this  scene  by  going 
into  hysterics,  and  also  had  to  be  assisted  from  the  room.  The 
other  women  kept  their  nerves,  and  after  the  first  shock  main- 


126  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

tained  composure.  In  the  meantime  the  crowd  had  closed  in 
on  the  prisoners,  and  were  examining  them  from  head  to  foot. 
The  bailiffs,  however,  promptly  put  a  stop  to  this,  and  led  the 
condemned  men  away  to  their  cells. 

THE    JURORS. 

The  twelve  good  men  and  true,  who  sat  in  judgment  for  so 
many  long  and  weary  days,  are  all  Americans  by  birth.  Frank 
S.  Osborne,  foreman  of  the  jury,  is  a  widower  of  thirty-nine, 
and  the  father  of  three  sons.  He  is  head  salesman  of  the  car- 
pet department  of  Marshall  Field's  retail  store,  and  came  here 
from  Columbus,  Ohio.     He  is  an  Episcopalian. 

Major  James  H.  Cole,  of  Lawndale,  the  first  juror  accepted 
by  both  sides,  was  born  at  Utica,  N.  Y.,  forty-three  years  ago, 
and  served  throughout  the  Kebellion  in  the  Forty-first  Ohio  In- 
fantry. He  came  to  Chicago  from  Chattanooga,  Tennessee,  six 
years  ago,  and  though  a  bookkeeper  by  profession,  is  at  present 
out  of  employment. 

J.  H.  Brayton,  j^rincipal  of  Webster  Schoool,  lives  at  Engel- 
wood  with  his  family,  although  a  native  of  Lyons,  N.  Y.  He 
had  arranged  a  hunting  and  fishing  excursion  for  the  summer, 
which  was  ruined. 

A.  H.  Reed  is  of  the  firm  of  Reed  &  Sons,  of  Reed's  Tem- 
ple of  Music,  136  State  street.  He  was  born  in  Boston  forty- 
nine  years  ago,  but  has  been  in  the  music  business  here  for 
twenty-three  years,  living  with  his  wife  at  3242  Groveland 
Park.     Mr.  Reed  is  a  Freethinker,  but  not  an  Atheist. 

Andrew  Hamilton,  dealer  in  hardware,  has  lived  in  Chicago 
twenty  years  of  the  forty -one  he  has  been  on  earth,  and  now 
lives  with  his  wife  at  1521  P^orty-first  street. 


fg®&* 


&«H 


THE  JURY. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  127 

C.  B.  Todd,  forty-seven  years  old,  was  born  in  Elmira,  N. 
Y.,  lived  in  Minnesota  for  sixteen  years  after  the  war,  but  is 
now  a  salesman  in  the  Putnam  Clothing  House.  He  served  in 
the  Sixth  New  York  Heavy  Artillery.  Mr.  Todd  lives  at  1013 
West  Polk  street. 

H.  T.  Sanford  is  but  twenty-four  years  old,  and  is  a  son  of 
the  late  Lawyer  Sanford,  compiler  of  the  Superior  Court  reports 
of  New  York.  For  fifteen  months  past  he  has  been  voucher 
clerk  for  the  Chicago  <fe  Northwestern,  but  before  coming  to 
Chicago  he  was  a  petroleum  broker  at  New  York.  He  and  his 
wife  live  at  Oak  Park. 

S.  C.  Randall,  the  youngest  man  on  the  jury,  was  born  m 
Erie  county,  Pennsylvania,  in  1864,  and  in  the  three  years  he 
has  been  in  Chicago  he  has  been  a  hotel  waiter,  a  milk  peddler, 
and  is  now  a  salesman  for  J.  C.  Vaughan  &  Co.,  seedsmen,  45 
La  Salle  street. 

Theodore  Denker,  shipping  clerk  for  H.  H.  King  <fe  Co.,  is 
twenty-seven  years  old,  and  lives  at  Woodlawn  Park.  He  has 
lived  in  Chicago  twenty-five  years,  and  is  not  married. 

Charles  A.  Ludwig  is  also  twenty-seven  years  old,  single, 
and  is  a  clerk  in  the  wood  mantel  shop  of  Charles  L.  Page  &>  Co. 

John  B.  Greiner  is  a  clerk  in  the  freight  department  of  the 
Chicago  &  Northwestern  Road,  and  lives  at  Humboldt  Park. 
He  is  twenty-five  years  old,  and  single. 

G.  W.  Adams,  twenty-seven  years  old,  travels  in  Michigan, 
selling  paint  for  a  Clinton  street  firm.  He  is  a  painter  by  trade, 
and  lives  with  his  brother  at  Evanston. 

The  following  is  the  official  Police  Department  report  oi 
casualties  at  the  Haymarket: 


128 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   CONSPIRACY  AND  MASSACRE.       NAMES  AND  NUMBER    OF   KILLED 

AND  WOUNDED.       UNEARTHING  THE  PLOT.       OFFICERS  AT 

WORK  AND  CROWNED  WITH  SUCCESS.       REPORT 

OF  GRAND  JURY. 


NAME  OF  OFFICER. 


August  C.  Killer 

Thomas  McHenry.. 

John  E.  Doyle 

John  A.  King 

Nicholas  Shannon.. 

Michael  Sheahan. 

James   Conway 

Patrick    Hartford. . . 

Patrick  Nash 

Arthur  Conolly 

Lou*  s  Johnson 

M.  M.  Cardin 

Adam  Barber 

Henry  F.  Smith 

Frank  Tyrell 

James  A.  Brady 

John  Ried 

George  Muller... 
Patrick  McLaughlin 

Frank  Murphy 

Lawrence  Murphy.. 


STATION. 


Third  Precinct. 


NATURE  OF  WOUNDS  AND  CIRCUMSTANCES. 


Shell  wound  in  right  side,  and  ball  wound  in 
left  side.    Wife  and  five  children. 

Shell  wound  in  left  kneee  and  three  shell  wounds 
in  left  hip.  Single ;  has  sister  and  blind 
mother  to  support. 

Bullet  wound  in  back  and  calves  of  both  legs; 
serious.     Wife  and  one  child. 

Jaw  bone  fractured  by  shell,  and  two  bullet 
wounds  in  right  leg  below  the  knee;  serious. 
Single. 

Thirteen  shell  wounds  on  right  side  and  five 
shell  wounds  on  left  side,  also  right  foot  and 
back;  serious.    Wife  and  three  children. 

Died  May  9.     Single. 

Bullet  wound  in  right  leg.     Single. 

Shell  wound  right  ankle,  two  toes  on  left  foot 
amputated,  bullet  wound  in  left  side.  Wife 
and  four  children. 

Bruise  on  left  shoulder  by  club.     Single. 

Two  shell  wounds  in  left  leg,  bones  slightly  frac- 
tured.    Wife. 

Shell  wound  in  left  leg.  Wife  and  four  chil- 
dren. 

Bullet  wound  in  calf  of  both  legs.  Wife  and 
two  children. 

Shell  wound  left  leg,  bullet  wound  in  right  heel, 
bullet  not  extracted.     Wife  and  one  child. 

Bullet  wound  on  right  shoulder;  quite  serious . 
Wife  and  two  children  in  California. 

Bullet  in  right  hip  near  the  spine;  bullet  not  re- 
moved.    Single. 

Shell  wound  in  left  leg,  slight;  injury  to  toes 
left  foot  and  shell  wounds  in  left  thigh. 
Wife  and  two  children;  wife  very  sick  at 
County  Hospital. 

Shell  wound  in  left  leg;  bullet  wound  in  right 
knee,  not  removed.    Single. 

Died  May  6,  at  County  Hospital.     Single. 

Bruise  on  right  side,  leg  and  hip ;  slight.  Wife 
and  three  children. 

Trampled  on,  three  ribi  broken.  Wife  and  two 
children. 

Shell  wouuds  left  side  of  neck  and  left  knee; 
part  of  left  foot  amputated.  Wife  and 
three  children. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 


129 


NAME  OF  OFFICER. 


John  J.  Barrett... 

Michael  Madden 

Lieutenant  Stanton. . 

Matthias  J.  Degan 

Thomas  Brophy 

Bernard  Murphy 

Charles  H.  Fink.... 

Joseph  Norman 

Peter  Butterly 

Alexander  Jameson. 

Michael  Horan 

Thomas  Hennessey. . 

William  Burns 

Thomas  Redden 

James  Plunkett 

Charles  W.  Whitney. 
Jacob  Hansen 

Timothy  Sullivan 

Martin  Cullen 

Simon  Klidzio 

Julius  L.  Simonson.. 
John  K.  McMahon... 

Simon  McMahon 

Edward  W.  Ruel.... 


Third  Precinct 


NATURE  OF  WOUNDS  AND  CIRCUMSTANCES. 


Died  May  6,  at  County  Hospital;  shot  in  liver. 

Wife. 
Shot  ia  left  lung,  will  recover;  killed  his  assail- 
ant after  he  was  shot.     Single. 
Shell  wound  in  right  side,  bullet  wound  in  right 

hip,  wounds  inside  both  hips,  bullet  wound 

in  calf  of  leg.     Wife,  seven  children. 
Instantly  Killed.     Widower;  father,  mother 

and  three  sons. 
Slight  injury  in   left  leg;   reported   for   duty. 

Wife. 
Bullet  wound  in  left  thigh  shell  wound  in  ri^ht 

side  of  head  and  on  chin;   not  dangerous. 

Wife. 
Three  shell  wounds  in  left  leg  and  two  wounds 

on  right  leg,  and  slightly  in  thigh;  not  dan- 
gerous.    Wife. 
Bullet  passed  through  right  foot,  slight  injury 

to  fingers  on   left  hand.     Wife  and   two 

children. 
Bullet  wound  in  right  arm,  shell  wound  in  both 

legs,  near  knees.     Wife  and  one  child. 
Bullet  wound  in  left  leg;  serious.     Wife  and 

seven  children. 
Bullet  wound  in  left  thigh,  not  removed,  slight 

shell  wound  on  left  arm.    Single. 
Shell  wound  on  left  thigh;  slight.     Has  crippled 

brother  and  two  sisters  to  support. 
Slight  shell  wound  on  left  ankle.     Single. 
Died  May  16,   at  County  Hospital.     Fracture 

of  left  leg  below  knee,  bullet  wound  in  left 

cheek,  bullet  wound  in   right  arm.     Wife 

and  two  children. 
Struck  with  club  and  trampled  upon:  on  duty 

Wife. 
Shell  wound  in  left  breast,  shell  not  removed. 

Single. 
Right  leg  amputated  above   the  knee.     Three 
shell  wounds  on  left  leg.     Wife   and   one 

child. 
Bullet  wound  just  above  left  knee.     Has  four 

children  (Widower). 
Right  collar  bone  fractured,  and  slight  injury 

to  left  kne«;  not  serious.     Wife  and  five 

children. 
Shot  in  calf  of  left  leg ;  serious.     Wife  and  three 

children. 
Shot  in  arm,  near  shoulder;  very  serious.     Wife 

and  two  ohildren. 
Shell  wound  on  calf  of  left  leg;  shell  not  found; 

ball  wound  left  leg,  near  knee;  very  serious. 

Wife  and  two  children. 
Shot  in  right  arm  and  two  wounds  on  right  leg. 

Wife,  five  children. 
Shot  in  ritrht  ankle,  bullet  not  removcJ;  serious. 

Sinsle. 


130 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 


NAME  OF  OFFICEK. 


Alexander  Halverson . 

Carl  E.  Johnson 

Peter  McCormick 

Christopher  Gaynor.. 
Timothy  Flavin 


Nils  Hansen. 


8.J.  Weineke. 


Patrick  McNulty. 


Samuel  Hilgo 

Herman  Krueger. 
Joseph  A.  Gilso. 


Edward  Barrett. 


Fruman  Steele 

James  T.  Johnson 

Benjamin  F.  SnelL-. 
James  H.  Willson 


Daniel  Hogan. 
M.  O'Brien.... 


Frederick  A.  Andrew 
Jacob  Ebinger 


John  J.  Kelly. 
Patrick  Flavin . 


Third  Precinct. 


Fourth 


Central  Detail. 


NATURE  OE  -WOUNDS  AND  CIRCUMSTANCES. 


ghot  in  both  legs,  ball  not  extracted.    Single. 
Shot  in  left  elbow.     Wife  and  two  children. 
Slight  shot  wound  in  left  arm.    Wife. 
Slight  bruise  on  left  knee.    Wife. 
Died  from  wounds,   Mat  8.     Wife   and  three 

children. 
Died  June  14,   at  Couuty  Hospital.    Shot  in 

body,  arms   and  legs,    fingers    paralyzed. 

Wife  and  six  children. 
Shot  in  left  side  of  head,  ball  not  found;  serious. 

Wife  and  two  children. 
Shot  in  right   leg   and  both   hips;   dangerous. 

Wife  and  three  children. 
Shot  in  right  leg;  not  serious.     Single. 
Shot  in  right  knee.     Wife  and  two  children. 
Slightly  injured   in   leg  and   back.     Wife  and 

six  children. 
Shot  in  right  leg;  quite  serious.     Wife  and  six 

six  children. 
Slightly  woundud  in  back;  not  serious.     Single. 
Right   knee  sprained;   not  serious.     Wife  and 

three  children. 
Shot  in  right  l^g;  at  hospital.     Single. 
Seriously  injured  in  abdomen  by  shell,  and  in 

left  hand;  very  serious.     Wife  and  five  chil- 
dren. 
Shot  in  calf  of  right  leg  and  in  left  hand.    Wife 

and  daughter. 
Shell  wound  in  left  thigh.      Wife  and  two  chil- 
dren. 
Wounded  in  leg;  not  serious.     Married. 
Shell  wound  on  back  of  left  hand.     Wife  and 

three  children. 
Slight  wound  by  shell,   left  hand.     Wife  and 

three  children. 
Finger  hurt  by  shell.     Married. 


Total  number  of  wounded  officers,  67.        Deaths,  7. 


"  Behold  how  great  a  matter  a  little  fire  kindleth  I " 
The  explosion  at  the  Haymarket  made  3  widows,  14  orphans, 
and  left  119  children  dependent  upon  public  charity,  pending 
the  recovery  of  their  wounded,  or  perhaps  permanently  maimed 
and  crippled  fathers. 

The  business  men  of  the  city  and  railroad  corporations 
promptly  gave  over  $50,000  for  the  relief  of  the  families  of  the 
officers  who  were  killed  and  wounded. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  131 

THE    CONSPIRACY. 

The  search  for,  and  the  capture  of  the  primef- actors  in  the 
Haymarket  tragedy  was  at  once  commenced  in  earnest.  The 
well  organized  and  efficient  force  of  brave  men,  under  command 
of  cool  headed  and  well  skilled  officers,  was  sure  to  succeed. 
Captain  F.  Schaack,  with  six  detectives,  kept  the  entire  North- 
west group  under  the  survilance  of  their  argus  eyes.  Thielen 
turned  informer  and  communicated  important  information 
which  fitted  exactly  to  supply  a  perfect  chain  of  evidence.  The 
Yipsilcn  and  Ralie  signals  were  significant  evidence  toward 
proving  conspiracy  along  with  the  other  daily  developments  in 
in  the  case.  Several  officers  and  detectives  were  detailed  to 
make  a  search  of  several  houses  on  Sedgwick  street,  among  which, 
one  Seliger's,  at  No.  442.  As  the  officers  were  nearing  the 
house,  Louis  Lingg  and  one,  Oppenheimer,  were  watching  them 
with  much  interest  and  discussing  the  practicability  of  making 
a  rush  for  their  arms  and  kill  the  officers  rather  than  have  the 
arsenal  of  the  Anarchist,  with  its  appliances  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  infernal  machines  for  the  consumation  of  conspiracy  and 
treason,  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  officers  of  the  law.  But  the 
ever  vigilant  officers  secured  possession  of  the  house  and  re- 
moved all  suspicious  articles  to  the  station.  Lingg  went  imme- 
diately into  hiding,  but  was  on  the  14  of  May  arrested  in  a  little 
cottage  on  Ambrose  street.  Seliger  was  arrested  in  Meyer's 
carpenter  shop,  and  Thielen  coming  to  see  what  Seliger  was 
arrested  for  was  also  taken  into  custody.  Lingg  became  reck- 
less and  defiant.  Many  of  the  conspirators  were  run  to  earth 
by  those  six  men  and  arrested.  Assistant  State's  Attorney 
Furthman  interviewed  the  prisoners  in  their  native  tongue  and 
made  a  record  of  their  statements. 


132  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

RUDOLPH    SCHNAUBELT. 

who  it  is  now  believed  was  the  man  who  threw  the  dynamite 
bomb  with  such  deadly  effect,  was  once  arrested,  but  on  tem- 
porary release  decamped  at  once,  which  suspicious  action  led  to 
a  further  investigation.  But  two  weeks  having  elapsed  since 
his  release,  he  made  good  his  escape  from  the  country  no  doubt. 
About  forty  Socialists  were  arrested  and  discharged  again. 
Neebe  was  once  discharged  and  re-arrested  as  the  case  devel- 
oped. Gilmer's  evidence  some  days  after  the  riot  tended  very 
much  to  strengthen  the  belief  that  Schnaubelt  was  the  party 
who  threw  the  bomb,  and  that  it  was  thrown  under  the  imme- 
diate supervision  and  by  the  direction  of  August  Spies,  which 
is  in  keeping  with  his  public  speech  and  the  secret  teachings 
by  which  he  was  endeavoring  to  establish,  that  system  of  rev- 
olutionary warfare  supplemented  by  the  organization  known  as 
the  Lehr  and  Wehr  Verin,  which  is  synonymous  with  armed 
protection,  or  teaching  secretly  the  use  of  weapons  for  the  pur- 
pose of  defense. 

THE    GRAND    JURY. 

The  following  is  an  abstract  of  their  report: 
To  the  Hon.  Judge  John  G.  Rogers:  In  presenting  the 
bills  of  indictments  which  we  have  the  honor  herewith  to  sub- 
mit, in  what  are  known  as  the  "  Anarchist  cases,"'  we  deem  it 
proper  to  accompany  the  same  with  a  few  words  of  explanation. 
We  have  endeavored  in  our  deliberations  and  in  our  findings  to 
be  guided  strictly  by  the  instructions  delivered  to  us  by  the  Court 
in  regard  to  the  liability  of  a  citizen  under  the  law  for  the 
abuse  of  the  privilege  of  free  speech.  We  have  in  this  connec- 
tion, upon  the  evidence  adduced,  found  true  bills  only  against 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  133 

such  persons  as  had,  in  their  abuse  of  this  right,  been  more  or 
less  instrumental  in  causing  the  riot  and  bloodshed  at  Hay  mar- 
ket square,  the  particulars  of  which  we  were  called  upon  to 
investigate.  We  have  in  some  cases  refused  to  find  bills  for 
the  reason  that  persons  against  whom  evidence  was  presented 
seemed  to  be  the  weak  and  ignorant  tools  of  designing  men,  and 
that  it  was  our  belief  should  they  continue  their  evil  associations 
and  ]3ractices  after  this  calamity  shall  have  shown  them  to  what 
it  leads,  that  some  future  grand  jury  would  give  their  cases 
proper  attention.  So  far  as  we  are  informed  this  is  the  first 
appearance  of  dynamite  as  a  factor  in  the  criminal  annals  of  this 
state,  and  this  is  also  the  first  organized  conspiracy  for  the  de- 
struction of  human  life,  and  the  overthrow  of  law  in  any  part 
of  this  country  that  has  employed  this  new  and  dangerous 
agency.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  fatal  and  appalling  success 
which  has  attended  this,  its  first  introduction,  should  have  in- 
spired terror  in  this  community. 

We  find  that  the  attack  on  the  police  on  May  4  was  the  re- 
sult of  a  deliberate  conspiracy,  the  full  details  of  which  are  now 
in  the  possession  of  the  officers  of  the  law,  and  will  be  brought 
out  when  the  cases  shall  be  reached  in  court.  We  find  that 
this  force  of  disorganizes  had  a  very  perfect  force  of  organizers 
of  its  own,  and  that  it  was  chiefly  under  the  control  of  the  coterie 
of  men  who  were  connected  with  the  publication  of  their  En- 
glish and  German  newspaper  organs,  the  Alarm  aud  Arbeiter 
Ze it U7i g.  The  evidence  has  shown  conclusively  to  us  that  these 
men  were  manipulating  this  agitation  from  base  and  selfish 
motives,  for  the  power  and  influence  which  it  gave  them,  and 
for  the  money  which  they  could  make  out  of  it ;  that  the  large 
majority  of  their  followers  were  simply  their  dupes,  and  they 


134  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

have  collected  in  this  way  large  sums  of  money  from  those  fol- 
lowers, and  from  the  working  men  of  this  city.  That  their  plan 
was  to  involve,  so  far  as  they  could,  not  only  the  Socialist  and 
Communist  organizations,  with  whom  they  claim  some  kindred, 
but  also  the  labor  societies  and  trades  unions,  to  the  end  that 
in  the  midst  of  the  excitement  they  were  creating  they  could  not 
only  rely  upon  them  as  a  source  of  revenue,  but  also  have  them 
to  fall  back  upon  in  the  event  of  their  finally  being  made  amen- 
able to  the  law.  "Witnesses  have  come  before  us  under  protest 
and  with  fear  and  trembling  lest  their  appearance  before  this 
jury  should  draw  down  upon  them  or  upon  their  families  the 
secret  vengeance  of  this  unknown  enemy.  Branches  of  industry 
in  the  city  have  remained  paralyzed  after  all  causes  of  disagree- 
ment between  the  employer  and  the  employed  had  been  ad- 
justed, by  the  same  fear  inspired  among  the  workmen,  coupled 
with  the  feeling  that  the  law  is  administered  was  impotent  to 
afford  protection  to  a  man  ready  and  willing  to  work  for  the 
support  of  his  family.  So  exaggerated  has  been  the  popular 
notion  as  to  the  magnitude  of  this  force  that  politicians  have 
cringed  before  it,  and  political  parties  have  catered  to  its  vote. 
Processions  have  been  tolerated  upon  our  public  streets  carry- 
ing banners  and  inscriptions  which  were  a  shame  and  a  disgrace 
to  our  city,  and  an  affront  to  every  law-abiding  citizen.  Public 
harangues  have  been  permitted  that  were  an  open  menace  to 
law  and  order,  and  which  in  logical  sequence  have  reached  their 
culmination  in  the  bloody  outrage  known  as  the  Haymarket 
massacre.  We  believe  that  a  proper  enforcement  of  the  law. 
as  expounded  by  your  Honor  in  the  charge  made  to  this  Grand 
Jury  at  the  beginning  of  its  session,  would  restore  confidence, 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  135 

correct  existing  evils,  preserve  the  peace,  and  protect  this  com- 
munity from  the  recurrence  of  a  like  disorder. 

In  conclusion,  we  desire,  as  citizens  and  as  members  of  this 
Grand  Jury,  in  this  public  way  to  express  our  most  grateful  ac- 
knowledgments of  the  debt  owing  to  the  officers  and  men  of  the 
police  force  of  Chicago.  By  their  heroic  bravery  and  their  con  - 
scientiousness  and  devotion  to  duty  we  believe  that  they  have 
saved  this  city  from  a  scene  of  bloodshed  and  devastation  equal 
to,  or  perhaps  greater  than  that  witnessed  during  the  Commune 
in  Paris.  We  wish  further,  from  the  evidence  that  has  been 
placed  before  us,  to  express  our  fullest  confidence  that  the  same 
force  that  has  protected  us  by  its  bravery  in  the  face  of  the  en- 
emy, aided  by  the  skill  and  legal  ability  of  our  Prosecuting 
Attorney  and  his  assistants,  is  quite  competent  to  hunt  these 
public  enemies  down,  and  to  bring  them  before  our  courts  of 
law  with  sufficient  evidence  of  guilt  to  insure  what  they  so 
richly  deserve. 

Wednesday,  May  19,  there  appeared  before  the  grand  jury 
as  a  witness  one-Krendl,  who  is  in  the  service  of  the  City  Water 
Department.  This  witness,  it  was  said,  testified  that  he  saw  a 
machinest,  whose  name  was  withheld,  talking  with  Spies  and 
Schwab  at  the  Haymarket  the  evening  of  the  tragedy.  The 
witness  watched  the  trio  closely  and  saw  them  go  toward  Hal- 
sted  street  and  then  return  to  the  wagon  so  frequently  referred 
to  in  connection  with  the  massacre.  Upon  their  return  the 
witness  noticed  that  the  machinist  had  something  in  his  right 
coat-pocket  which  filled  it  up  as  an  apple  or  base-ball  might. 
His  attention  was  directed  to  this  fact  because  of  the  persistent 
manner  in  which  the  machinist  kept  guard  over  the  mouth  of 
the  pocket  with  his  hand. 


1:36  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

M.  M.  Thompson  followed  the  above  witness,  and  described 
a  certain  person  who  was  with  Schwab  and  Spies  during  the 
early  part  of  the  evening,  and  this,  in  connection  with  KrendFs 
testimony,  was  considered  important  by  the  jury.  It  was  stated 
at  the  time  that  Krendl  was  able  to  give  the  machinist's  name, 
from  having  once  been  a  Socialist. 

It  was  afterward  discovered  that  Schnaubelt  was  the  ma- 
chinist referred  to.  Fred.  P.  Rosbeck,  a  manufacturer  of  light 
machinery  at  No.  224  East  Washington  street,  stated  that 
Schnaubelt  had  been  in  his  employ  about  five  weeks  previous 
to  the  Haymarket  riot.  He  was  a  good  workman,  but  a  pro- 
nounced Socialist  and  Anarchist,  and  his  rabid  utterences  had 
many  others  in  the  shop  to  incline  to  his  views.  Schnaubelt 
had  a  companion,  August  Lambrecht  by  name,  who  came  to 
work  for  Rosbeck  about  the  same  time  he  did.  They  were  very 
intimate,  going  and  coming  together,  and  carrying  on  a  close 
relationship.  Tuesday,  May  4,  Schnaubelt  asked  his  employer 
for  the  day,  saying  he  had  some  important  business  to  attend 
to.  He  was  granted  a  leave  of  absence,  but  returned  to  work 
promptly  Wednesday  morning.  Seeking  to  enlist  him  in  con- 
versation, Mr.  Rosbeck  said: 

"Rudolph,  they  had  a  big  time  at  the  Haymarket  last  night." 

"  Yes,"  said  Schnaubelt,  "  a  devil  of  a  time." 

Intending  to  further  draw  him  out,  the  employer  continued: 

"  You  Anarchists  didn't  half  do  your  job,  though.  Why 
didn't  you  use  more  bombs? " 

"  Because,"  he  answered,  "  they  didn't  get  up  with  them  in 
time." 

That  evening  Rosbeck  told  this  story  to  a  friend,  who  in- 
formed the  detective,  and  the  arrest  was  made  Thursday  morn- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  137 

ing.  Wednesday  Schnaubelt  bad  a  heavy  beard  and  moustache. 
At  the  time  of  his  arrest  Thursday  he  had  no  beard  and  his 
moustache  had  been  trimmed  close  to  his  lip.  After  his  release 
by  the  police  Schnaubelt  returned  to  the  shop  and  resumed 
work,  but  that  Thursday  night  he  informed  Rosbeck  that  he 
might  not  return  the  next  day.  He  said  that  he  feared  the 
detectives  might  search  his  house  and  then  arrest  him.  He  said 
Mrs.  Schwab  was  his  sister,  and  he  was  often  at  her  house.  If 
they  searched  Schwab's  house  it  might  lead  to  his  (Schnaubelt's) 
arrest.  lie  has  not  been  seen  since  that  Thursday  night.  His 
tools  and  clothes  remained  in  the  shop,  as  also  did  his  unpaid 
wages.  Rosbeck  thought  Lambrecht  had  knowledge  of  his 
friend's  whereabouts.  About  the  middle  of  May  Lambrecht 
informed  Rosbeck  that  Schuaubelt  had  instructed  him  to  draw 
his  salary  and  take  possession  of  his  clothes. 

In  his  evidence  before  the  jury  M  M.  Thompson  declared 
that  he  saw  either  Spies  or  Schwab — and  he  felt  almost  certain 
it  was  the  latter — hand  Schnaubelt  the  bomb  while  the  trio 
were  about  fifteen  feet  from  the  wagon.  Schnaubelt,  he  said, 
was  in  waiting  for  them  when  they  came  from  Halsted  street. 
Krendl  testified  that  in  his  opinion  Schnaubelt  could  not  have 
been  handed  the  bomb  at  the  place  designated,  because  he  saw 
him  go  to  Halsted  street  with  the  speakers,  and  return.  He  ad- 
mitted, however,  that  Schnaubelt  had  something  in  his  outside 
pocket  when  near  the  wagon. 

Schnaubelt,  when  arrested  by  Detective  Palmer,  admitted 
to  Lieutenant  Shea  that  he  was  with  Schwab  that  Tuesday 
night,  but  insisted  that  he  left  the  wagon  on  which  they  were 
standing  when  it  commenced  to  rain. 

Various  rumors   as  to  Schnaubelt's  whereabouts  were  re- 


138  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

ceived.  A  letter,  said  to  be  in  the  fugitive's  handwriting,  was 
received  by  the  police  some  weeks  after  the  riot,  from  Portland, 
Oregon.  The  writer  poked  fun  at  the  chief  and  said  that  the 
fact  that  he  was  so  far  away  was  due  to  the  stupidity  of  the 
detective  force  and  Lieut.  Shea's  gullibility. 

Subsequently  the  body  of  a  man  was  found  in  the  canal  at 
Erie,  Pa.,  which  in  features  and  in  the  clothes  upon  it  corres- 
ponded to  the  description  of  Schnaubelt,  and  it  was  thought  he 
had  left  Chicago  as  a  stowaway  in  a  vessel  and  had  been 
drowned  in  trying  to  get  ashore  at  Erie  at  night.  The  author- 
ities, however,  became  convinced  that  this  was  not  Schnaubelt. 
Some  of  the  police  have  always  believed  that  Schnaubelt  left 
the  city  with  Parsons  the  night  after  the  bomb  throwing,  and 
after  remaining  in  hiding  with  the  latter  near  Omaha  until  Par- 
sons decided  to  appear  and  stand  trial,  continued  his  flight 
South  or  West,  September  15,  1886,  H.  F.  Schaffer,  a  con- 
ductor on  the  Mexican  Central  Railroad,  on  his  way  to  his  home 
in  Ohio,  called  on  Chief  of  Police  Ebersold  and  informed  him 
that  from  a  picture  of  Schnaubelt  in  the  Police  News,  he 
thought  he  had  identified  the  fugitive  in  the  person  of  a  jeweler 
in  the  City  of  Mexico,  who  spoke  English  with  a  German  ac- 
cent. Mr.  Schaffer  and  a  companion  visited  the  jeweler  fre- 
quently and  endeavored  to  draw  him  out  upon  the  subject  of 
the  Haymarket  massacre,  but  the  suspected  person  would  not 
talk  about  the  Anarchists.  It  is  understood  the  police  took 
measures  to  investigate  this  supposed  clue. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  139 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

COST    OF   ANARCHIST    TRIAL.        EXTRACTS    FROM    ZEITUNG.        MOTION 
FOR    NEW   TRIAL.       MOTION    OVERRULED 

COST    OF    THE    ANARCHIST   TRIALS. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  trials  of  the  Anarchist  conspirators 
for  connection  with  the  Hay  market  massacre  has  cost  Cook 
county  and  Chicago  about  $100,000.  A  calculation  made  by 
county  officials  at  the  close  of  the  murder  trial  in  August, 
placed  the  average  cost  since  the  night  of  the  bomb  throwing 
at  $21,800  per  month.  Another  estimate  itemizes  the  daily 
expenses  as  follows : 

State's-Attorney's  office,  stenographers,  messengers,  tele- 
grams, interpreters,  extra  legal  help  (Mr.  Ingham)   .  $200 
Sheriffs  office,  bailiff's,  jury  fees,  hotel  bills  for  jury,  etc.     150 
Court  Costs,  Judge's  salary,  miscellaneous  items        .        .     100 

Detectives,  policemen,  witness  fees 150 

Criminal  Court  Clerk's  office  and  other  expenses       .  100 

This  makes  a  total  of  $700  a  day,  or  $70,000  for  the  100 
days  which  the  trial  covered.  The  trials  of  the  twenty-six 
persons  indicted  for  conspiracy  in  connection  with  the  murders 
bring  the  total  cost  up  to  $100,000. 

In  an  interview  Chief  of  Police  Ebersold  praised  the  brave 
and  steady  action  of  the  police  at  the  Haymarket,  but  for  quick 
and  active  fighting  gave  the  palm  to  the  six  officers  who  held  a 
mob  of  two  or  three  thousand  men  at  bay  at  the  McCormick 
works  the  day  before  the  Haymarket  affair.  A  mob  tried  to 
hang  Officer  Casey  to  a  lamp-post,  and  he  fought  hand  to  hand 


140  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

against  gread  odds  until  rescued.  Vaclav  Dejnek,  Frank  Broda 
and  a  young  man  named  Hess  were  indicted  for  this  affair,  and 
Dejnek  was  sentenced  to  serve  one  year  in  state's  prison. 

THE    ARBEITER    ZEITUNG. 

The  Arbeiter  Zeitung,  which  was  suppressed  the  morning 
after  the  riot,  was  re-issued  almost  immediately,  and  in  one  issue 
had  the  following  comments  on  the  trial: 

"  Has  it  come  to  this,  in  the  land  of  Washington,  Franklin 
and  Jefferson?  It  is  the  Iron  Must  of  historic  development. 
Only  those  men  who  are  economically  independent  can  be  truly 
free.  Where  there  are  poor  and  rich  political  freedom  is  a 
wretched  lie.  Mammon,  the  powerful  idol,  lowers  freedom  to 
a  kitchen  wench.  As  in  Rome  at  the  time  of  its  decay  Praetor- 
ian bands  of  foreigners  upheld  the  rule  of  the  Caesars,  so  now 
the  chief  support  of  the  money  kings  is  the  police  force  of  the 
large  American  cities,  which  consists  mainly  of  foreigners.  The 
down -fall  of  the  Republic  is  nigh.  It  will  fall  like  all  coun- 
tries whose  foundations  crumble  away  in  the  course  of  time. 
All  the  weeping  and  wailing  cannot  delay  catastrophe.  The 
present  is  without  hope,  so  we  must  strengthen  ourselves  by 
looking  at  the  future.  A  new  life  will  bloom  from  the  ruins 
of  the  present  social  order.  The  society  of  the  future  will 
bridge  ovTer  the  abysses  which  open  to-day  before  our  eyes.  All 
men  will  be  equal.  They  will  remember  with  a  shudder  the 
time  when  Praetorian  bands  could  plot  the  massacre  of  thous- 
ands. Mammon  will  be  cast  down  from  his  usurped  throne, 
and  Freedom  will  take  the  place  with  conquering  power,  to 
dwell  with  happy  humanity  forever  and  ever." 

After  the  verdict  was  rendered  Mr.   Grinnell,  in  behalf  of 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  141 

the  State,  sent  word  to  the  new  publishers  of  the  Arbeiter  Zei- 
tang,  that  care  must  be  taken  by  them  that  no  attacks  either  on 
the  jury  or  Judge  Gary  should  appear  in  their  paper,  notifying 
them  that  if  any  such  article  should  appear,  the  managers  of 
the  paper  would  be  prosecuted  for  contempt  of  court. 
The  following  was  the  result  of  the  warning* 

"  OUTRAGEOUS ! 

"  SFVEN    OF   THE    DEFENDANTS    SENTENCED    TO    DEATH,   ANT)  NEEBE 
GETS    FIFTEEN    YEARS. 

"  A  Motion  for  a  New  Trial  Made  ! 

"  The  jury,  through  Osborne,  its  foreman,  presented  their 
verdict  to  Judge  Gary  this  morning.  When  the  result  became 
known  the  detectives,  who  mingled  freely  with  the  crowd  on 
the  street,  set  up  a  loud  cheering,  and  the  judge  became  very 
pale — he  did  not  expect  such  a  demonstration.  Grinnell,  on 
the  other  hand,  evidently  expected  such  a  verdict,  and  presum- 
ably with  cause.  Marshall  Field  and  men  of  his  stripe  have 
entirely  too  much  money.  What  do  the  people  say  to  this  ver- 
dict? They  will  look  upon  it  as  being  impossible — incredible. 
We  were  not  inclined  to  believe  it  at  first,  but  we  soon  became 
convinced.  Captain  Black  instantly  made  a  motion  for  a  new 
trial,  which  Grinnell  did  not  oppose,  and  Judge  Gary  will  hear 
this  motion  next  term.  If  he  overrules  the  motion,  an  appeal 
will  be  taken.  We  are  not  in  a  proper  frame  of  mind  to  say 
more  to-day." 

THE   VERDICT 

fell  like  a  bolt  of  lightning  into  the  midst  of  Socialistic  and 


142  KISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

Anarchistic  circles,  believing  as  they  did,  that  punishment  could 
only  be  inflicted  upon  the  perpetrator  of  the  act  of  hurling  the 
bomb.  No  wonder  that  consternation  sat  darkly  upon  each 
sullen  brow  like  the  pall  of  impending  doom,  as  slowly  from  the 
jury  came  those  words  of  fearful  import  which  set  them  face  to 
face  with  death,  the  verdict  was  applauded  by  the  foreign  and 
American  press.  Twenty-five  representatives  of  reputable  labor 
unions  met  condemning  the  action  of  the  Socialists  and  thereby 
endorsing  the  verdict  of  the  jury. 

The  Socialists  of  New  York  held  indignation  meetings  de- 
nouncing the  verdict  and  expressing  sympathy  with  their  unfor- 
tunate brethren  of  Chicago.  Mrs.  Black,  in  a  letter  dated  Sept. 
22,  prophesied  that  in  case  the  sentence  was  executed  wide- 
spread revolution  and  destruction  of  property  and  life  would 
immediately  be  inaugurated.  On  the  27th  Capt.  Black  served 
a  notice  upon  State's  Attorney  Grinnell  for  a  new  trial,  on  the 
ground  that  the  verdict  was  not  in  keeping  with  the  law ;  also 
that  the  court  had  allowed  improper  testimony,  and  had  erred 
in  his  instructions.  1,191  men  were  called  to  serve  as  jurors  in 
the  case  before  the  twelve  elligable  men  were  secured,  and  even 
then  it  was  claimed  by  the  defense  that  only  ten  of  the  twelve 
were  competent. 

On  Friday,  Oct.  1st,  the  Attorneys  for  the  defense  began 
their  arguments  for  a  new  trial,  drawing  largely  upon  their  im- 
aginations to  supply  evidence  in  the  case.  They  endeavored  to 
introduce  false  affidavits  from  one  Orrin  Blossom,  of  No.  2,961 
Wentworth  Avenue,  and  A.  Love,  of  La  Grange,  to  impeach  the 
testimony  of  Gilmer.  But  the  wary  State's  Attorney  Grinnell 
had  one  move  to  make  which  blocked  their  game.  He  had 
counter  affidavits  from  Orrin  Blossom  and  Love  proving  that 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  143 

Love  was  not  in  the  city  on  the  night  of  the  Haymarket  riot 
after  six  o'clock,  and  that  he  never  saw  Harry  Gilmer. 

Three  days  were  spent  by  the  defense  in  argueing  their 
claims  for  a  new  trial,  and  on  October  7th  Judge  Gary  rendered 
his  decision  in  the  case  in  the  following  language : 

THE    MOTION    FOR    A    NEW    TRIAL    OVERRULED. 

Judge  Gary  said : 

In  passing  upon  this  motion  for  a  new  trial  the  case  is  so 
voluminous,  there  is  such  a  mass  of  evidence,  that  it  is  impossi- 
ble, within  anything  like  reasonable  limits,  to  give  a  synopsis 
or  epitome.  I  do  not  understand  that  either  upon  the  trial  be- 
fore the  jury  or  upon  the  arguments  of  this  motion  before  me 
there  have  been  any  arguments  tending  or  intended  to  deny 
that  all  of  the  defendants,  except  Neebe,  were  parties  to  what- 
ever purpose  or  object  there  was  in  view — that  the  other  seven 
were  combined  for  some  purpose.  I,  of  course,  do  not  wish  to 
attribute  to  the  defendants'  counsel  any  admissions  which  they 
have  not  made,  but  my  impression  is  that  there  has  been  no  ar- 
gument tending  or  intending  to  deny  that  all  the  other  seven, 
except  Neebe,  were  engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  some  object. 
What  it  is,  the  counsel  have  debated  before  the  jury  and  before 
me.  Now,  it  is  important  to  know  what  that  object  was, 
whether  it  was  as  counsel  for  defense  have  stated — merely  to 
encourage  working  men  to  resist,  if  unlawful  attacks  were 
made  upon  them — or  whether  it  was  something  else.  There 
is  no  better  way  to  ascertain  what  the  object  was,  than  to  read 
what  they  have  spoken  and  written  as  the  object,  while  the 
events  were  transpiring.  Now,  from  the  files  of  their  newspa- 
pers, which  go  back  a  good  way,  a  good  deal  can  be  taken, 


144  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

which  must  of  necessity  be  taken  as  the  truth  of  what  their  ob- 
ject was.  I  have  not  had  time  and  opportunity  to  arrange 
either  the  translations  of  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  or  the  files  of  the 
Alarm,  and  pick  out  those  which  in  the  fullest  shape  show 
what  they  were  proposing  to  do.  These  translations  from  the 
Arbeiter  Zeitung  now  come  to  my  hands  for  the  first  time.  I 
have  here  a  translation  of  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung,  January  11, 
1885,  headed  "To  Arms." 

The  Court  proceeded  to  read  numerous  and  lengthy  extracts 
from  translations  offered  in  evidence  of  articles  in  the  Arbeiter 
Zeitung,  in  which  revolution  by  force  was  advised,  and  the  ap- 
proaching revolution,  it  was  declared,  would  be  greater  than 
that  of  the  last  century.  Among  the  extracts  read  were  the 
following: 

"  Dynamite !     Of  all  stuff,  this  is  the  stuff." 

"  The  day  draws  near  when  the  working  people  of  America, 
in  an  outburst  of  passion  and  ungovernable  rage,  will  revolt 
and  demand  the  total  abolition  of  the  existing  state  of  things 
which  brings  to  the  working  classes  so  much  misery  and  death. 
Have  you  all  prepared  yourselves  with  knives,  pistols,  guns  and 
dynamite  for  the  unavoidable  conflict  between  labor  and  cap- 
ital?" 

"It  was  decided  at  the  last  mass-meeting  at  No.  54  West 
Lake  street  that  the  next  meeting  wall  be  devoted  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  military  laws  and  necessity  of  using  force  in 
the  warfare  between  capital  and  labor." 

"  Each  working  man  ought  to  have  been  armed  long  ago. 
Daggers,  revolvers  and  explosives  are  cheap,  and  can  be  easily 
obtained." 

"  Those  who  want  to  talk  to  capitalists  in  earnest  must  be 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  145 

prepared  to  attain  their  object  by  killing  them.  This  can  only 
be  accomplished  by  systematic  organization.  The  time  for  all 
this  is  short — look  out — " 

"In  addition  to  all  this,11  continued  Judge  Gary,  " there  is 
the  testimony  of  witnesses  that  there  was  a  combination  which 
was  formed  as  early  as  1884,  and  that  combination  had  for  its 
purpose  the  changing  of  the  existing  order  of  things,  the  over- 
throw of  government,  and  the  abolition  of  all  law.  There  can 
be  no  question  in  the  mind  of  any  one  who  has  read  these  arti- 
cles or  heard  these  speeches,  which  were  written  and  spoken 
long  before  the  eight-hour  movement  was  talked  of,  that  this 
movement  which  they  advocated  was  but  a  means  in  their  esti- 
mation toward  the  ends  which  they  sought,  and  that  the  move- 
ment itself  was  not  primarily  any  consideration  with  them  at 
all.  The  different  papers  and  speeches  furnish  direct  contra- 
diction to  the  arguments  of  counsel  that  they  proposed  to  resort 
to  arms  merely  to  resist  any  unlawful  attacks  which  the  police 
might  make  upon  them,  because  these  all  show  that  their  ob- 
ject was  this:  If,  during  the  eight-hour  movement,  strikes  oc- 
cured,  and  if  the  employers  chose  to  employ  other  men  in  the 
place  of  those  who  had  struck,  then  these  men  so  employed 
must  be  prevented  by  force  from  going  to  work,  and  if  the 
police  then  undertook  to  resist  the  force  so  employed  on  behalf 
of  the  strikers ;  if  the  police  undertook  to  prevent  this  force 
from  being  so  employed,  then  that  was  the  ground  on  which  the 
police  force  was  to  be  destroyed.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
that  was  an  unlawful  combination.  It  is  impossible  to  argue 
that  any  set  of  men  have  the  right  to  dictate  to  others  whether 
they  should  work  or  not,  and  if  they  chose  to  work  in  defiance 
of  their  dictation,  drive  them  away  by  force,  and  if  the  police 


146  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

undertook  to  prevent  that  force,  then  kill  the  police.  It  is  im- 
possible for  an  instant  to  support  any  such  principle  as  that. 
The  members  of  this  combination  publicly  announce  that  they 
had  no  hope  of  winning  the  majority  over  to  their  side  by  ar- 
gument, and  no  hope  of  attaining  their  object  by  getting  rid  of 
this  majority  by  violence.  There  is  no  doubt  that  seven  of  the 
defendants  were  in  the  combination  formed  for  that  purpose. 
As  to  Neebe's  part,  there  is  the  evidence  of  witnesses  that  he 
presided  at  meetings  called  by  the  class  of  people  from  whom 
this  combination  was  drawn,  and  that  he  called  meetings  of  the 
people  who  were  engaged  in  the  movement.  There  is  evidence 
that  he  marched  in  the  Board  of  Trade  procession,  the  object  of 
which  was  said  to  be  the  demolition  of  that  building." 

The  Court  proceeded  to  discuss  all  the  evidence  against 
Xeebe,  which  tended  to  show  that  he  was  associated  with  the 
rest  of  the  defendants  in  the  encouragement  of  the  movement 
which  had  for  its  object  the  destruction  of  the  government. 
The  Court  resumed: 

"  On  the  question  of  the  instructions  whether  these  defend- 
ants, or  any  of  them,  did  anticipate  or  expect  the  throwing  of 
the  bomb  on  the  night  of  the  4th  of  May,  is  not  a  question 
which  I  need  to  consider,  because  the  instructions  did  not  go 
upon  that  ground.  The  jury  were  not  instructed  to  find  them 
guilty  if  they  believed  that  they  participated  in  the  throwing  of 
the  bomb,  or  encouraged  or  advised  the  throwing  of  that  bomb, 
or  had  knowledge  that  it  was  to  be  thrown,  or  anything  of  that 
sort.  The  conviction  has  not  gone  upon  the  ground  that  they 
did  have  any  actual  participation  in  the  act  which  caused  the 
death  of  Deegan,  but  upon  the  ground,  under  the  instructions, 
that  they  had  generally  by  speech  and  print  advised  a  large 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  147 

class  to  commit  murder,  and  had  left  the  occasion,  time  and 
place  to  the  individual  will,  whim  and  caprice  of  the  individu- 
als so  advised,  and  that  in  consequence  of  that  advice,  and  in 
pursuance  of  it,  and  influenced  by  it,  somebody  not  known  did 
throw  the  bomb  that  caused  Deegau's  death. 

"  There  is  no  example  in  the  law  books  of  a  case  of  this  sort. 
No  such  occurance  has  ever  happened  before  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  I  suppose  that  in  the  Lord  George  Gordon  riots  we 
might  find  something  like  this.  Lord  George  Gordon  was  in- 
dicted for  treason,  and  the  government  failed  in  its  proof  upon 
the  trial  as  to  what  he  had  done.  Very  likely  they  did  not 
want  to  prove  it  very  strongly  against  him ;  I  do  not  know ;  it 
is  none  of  my  business.  If  the  bomb  was  thrown  in  pursuance 
of  the  prisoners'  advice,  the  instruction  as  to  the  law  of  access- 
ories before  the  fact  applied  to  the  case,  and  the  instruction  to 
the  jury  was  proper.  If  the  radical  Prohibitionists  should 
make  up  their  minds  that  the  only  way  to  stop  the  liquor  traffic 
was  by  destroying  the  saloons  and  killing  the  saloon-keepers, 
and  if  some  crank  should  blow  up  a  saloon  with  a  bomb  for 
whose  manufacture  the  radicals  had  furnished  specific  directions, 
and  in  the  explosion  a  saloon-keeper  was  killed,  there  could  be 
no  question  but  that  the  radical  temperance  men  were  guilty  of 
murder.  But  there  was  no  question  that  when  some  one  said 
'  Hang  McCorniick,'  or  '  Hang  Gould,'  the  reply  was  given  to 
make  no  idle  threats,  but  when  they  got  ready  to  do  anything, 
to  do  it." 

The  shorthand  report  of  the  speeches  of  Spies,  Parsons  and 
Fielden  at  the  Haymarket  meeting  was  then  read,  after  which 
the  Court  said: 

"  Now,  the  general  advice  throughout  was  to  each  individual- 


148  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

man — I  mean  the  general  teachings  on  this  subject  of  associated 
revolution — was  to  each  individual -man  to  do  it  himself,  with- 
out combination;  that  men  working  together  in  deeds  of  violence 
were  to  be  avoided;  that  they  were  to  go  alone  where  one  man 
only  was  required  to  accomplish  the  work,  and  where  more  than 
one  man  was  required,  as  few  as  was  necessary  should  be  taken. 
Now,  under  these  circumstances,  in  the  inflamed  state  of  the 
public  mind  at  the  time,  each  of  these  orators  was  still  more  in- 
flaming the  public  mind  when  he  advised  the  people  to  use 
force,  and  some  man — I  do  not  say  identified,  but  unidentified — 
some  man  in  that  crowd,  when  the  police  approached,  with  a 
bomb  of  Lingg's  manufacture,  killed  Deegan ;  all  who  have  ad- 
vised such  action  are  guilty  of  his  murder.  If  anything  can  be 
proved  by  circumstantial  evidence,  that  is  proved ;  that  he  threw 
that  bomb  in  consequence  of  the  influence  of  these  teachings, 
this  advise  by  speech  and  printing  over  a  course  of  two  years ; 
that  the  man  who  threw  that  bomb  had  been  educated  up  to  it 
by  the  teachings  of  these  defendants.  The  case,  as  I  said  be- 
fore, is  unprecedented.  There  is  no  example  of  any  such  crime 
having  been  committed ;  there  is  no  precedent  of  any  case  like 
this  having  become  the  subject  of  judicial  investigation  ;  but  the 
principle  of  law  is  well  fixed.  It  is  the  boast  of  people  who 
profess  to  admire  the  common  law,  that  it  adapts  itself  to  human 
events,  and  that  no  situation  or  no  new  form  of  industry  can 
arise  but  the  common  law  has  principles  which  may  be  applied." 
The  prisoners  spoke  in  their  own  behalf  before  sentence 
was  passed.  The  courtroom  was  crowded  as  usual.  The  police 
department  was  represented  by  Chief  Ebersold,  Capt.  Schaack, 
and  twenty  officers.  The  prisoners  wore  a  look  of  even  greater 
anxiety  than  at  the  morning  session.     Parsons  appeared  partic- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  149 

ularly  thoughtful  and  gloomy.  The  greater  part  of  the  session 
he  sat  with  his  cheek  resting  in  his  hand  and  taking  less  note 
of  the  proceedings  than  usual.  Spies  was  laboring  under  great 
excitement.  Before  he  began  his  speech  Judge  Gaiy  repeated 
the  caution  he  had  before  given  the  auditors  to  refrain  from  any 
demonstration  of  approbation  or  disapprobation  during  the  ses- 
sion. He  insisted  that  every  one  in  the  court  should  be  seated, 
and  seeing  two  men  at  the  rear  of  the  room  seated  on  a  table  he 
compelled  them  to  take  chairs  or  sit  on  the  floor.  Everything 
was  quiet  as  the  grave  when  Spies  began  his  address.  During 
the  impassioned  passages  he  raised  his  voice  and  indulged  in 
violent  gesticulation.  Neebe's  utterance  was  quite  rapid,  and 
he  spoke  like  one  at  home  before  an  audience.  His  speech 
would  have  produced  an  impression  on  any  jury.  His  voice  is 
clear  and  resonant,  and  he  has  a  better  presence  than  any  of  the 
other  defendants.  Fischer  spoke  hesitatingly,  and  would  prob- 
ably not  have  spoken  at  all  but  for  an  uncontrollable  desire  to 
express  his  opinion  of  the  State's  Attorney  and  all  representa- 
tives of  the  law.  Lingg's  rather  handsome  face  was  flushed, 
and  his  eyes  flashed  as  he  poured  out  his  denunciation  of  Messrs. 
Grinnell  and  Boniield.  When  he  took  his  seat  his  face  was 
covered  with  perspiration.  He  made  the  walls  ring,  and  as 
each  sentence  had  to  be  translated  by  Prof.  Ficke,  he  had  am- 
ple opportunity  to  deliver  each  sentence  with  renewed  emphasis. 
Schwab  read  his  speech  in  a  clear,  resonant  voice,  and  it  had 
been  evidently  prepared  with  much  care. 


15o  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

REASONS     WHY    THE    SENTENCE    OF   THE    LAW    SHOULD    NOT    BE    EX- 
ECUTED   UPON   THEM.       SPEECHES   BY   THE    ANARCHISTS. 

A.UGUST    SPIES. 

"  In  addressing  this  Court  I  speak  as  the  representative  of 
one  class  to  the  representative  of  another.  I  will  begin  with 
the  words  uttered  five  hundred  years  ago  on  a  similar  occasion 
by  the  Venetian  Doge  Faliero,  who,  addressing  the  court,  said : 
'  My  defense  is  your  accusation  ;  the  causes  of  my  alleged  crime, 
your  history.'  I  have  been  indicted  under  the  charge  of  mur- 
der as  an  accomplice  of  accessory.  Upon  this  indictment  I  have 
been  convicted.  There  was  no  evidence  produced  by  the  State 
to  show  or  even  indicate  that  I  had  any  knowledge  of  the  man 
who  threw  the  bomb,  or  that  I  myself  had  anything  to  do  with 
the  throwing  of  the  missile  unless,  of  course,  you  weigh  the  tes- 
timony of  the  accomplices  of  the  State's  Attorney  and  Bonfield, 
the  testimony  of  Thompson  and  Gilmer,  by  the  price  they  were 
paid  for  it,  If  there  was  no  evidence  to  show  that  I  was  legally 
responsible  for  the  deed,  then  my  conviction  and  the  execution 
of  the  sentence  are  nothing  less  than  a  willful,  malicious  and 
deliberate  murder — as  foul  a  murder  as  may  be  found  in  the 
annals  of  religious,  political,  or  any  other  sort  of  persecution. 
Judicial  murders  have  in  many  cases  been  committed  where  the 
representatives  of  the  state  were  acting  in  good  faith,  believing 
their  victims  to  be  guilty  of  the  charge  or  accusation.  In  this 
case  the  representatives  of  the  state  cannot  justify  themselves 


AUG.  SPIES. 


RISE    AND    FALL    OF    ANARCHY.  151 

by  a  similar  excuse,  for  they  themselves  have  fabricated  most  of 
the  testimony  which  was  used  as  a  pretense  to  convict  us — con- 
vict us  by  a  jury  picked  to  convict  before  this  Court  and  before 
the  public,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  State.  I  charge  the 
State's  Attorney  and  Bonfield  with  a  heinous  conspiracy  to  com- 
mit murder. 

"  I  will  now  state  a  little  incident  which  will  throw  light 
upon  this  charge.  On  the  evening  on  which  the  praetorian  co- 
horts of  the  Citizens'  Association,  the  Bankers'  Association,  the 
Bar  Association,  and  railroad  princes  attacked  the  meeting  of 
working-men  at  the  Haymarket  with  murderous  intent — on  that 
evening  about  8  o'clock,  I  met  a  young  man,  Legner  by  name. 
My  brother  was  with  me  at  the  same  time,  and  never  left  me 
on  that  evening  until  I  jumped  from  the  wagon  a  few  seconds 
before  the  explosion  came.  Legner  knew  that  1  had  not  seen 
Schwab  that  evening.  He  knew  that  1  had  no  such  conversa- 
tion with  anybody,  as  Marshall  Field's  protege,  Thompson  has 
testified  to.  He  knew  that  I  did  not  jump  from  the  wagon  and 
strike  a  match  and  hand  it  to  the  man  who  threw  the  bomb. 
He  is  not  a  Socialist.  Why  didn't  we  bring  him  on  the  stand  ? 
Because  the  honorable  representatives  of  the  State,  Grinnell  and 
Bonfield,  spirited  him  away.  These  honorable  gentlemen  knew 
everything  about  Legner.  They  knew  that  his  testimony  would 
prove  the  perjury  of  Thompson  and  Gilmer  beyond  any  reason- 
able doubt.  Legner's  name  was  on  the  list  of  witnesses  for  the 
State.  He  was  not  called,  however,  for  obvious  reasons.  First, 
as  he  stated  to  a  number  of  friends,  he  had  been  offered  $500 
if  he  would  leave  the  city,  and  threatened  with  direful  things 
if  he  should  remain  here  and  appear  as  a  witness  for  the  de- 
fense.    He  replied  that  he  could  neither  be  bought  nor  bull- 


152  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

dozed  to  serve  such  a  foul,  damnable,  dastardly  plot.  But  when 
we  wanted  Legner  he  could  not  be  found.  Mr.  Grinnell  said — 
and  Mr.  Grinnell  is  an  honorable  man — that  he  himself  had 
been  searching  for  the  young  man,  but  had  not  been  able  to  find 
him.  About  three  weeks  later  I  learned  that  the  very  same 
youug  man  had  been  kidnapped  and  taken  to  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  by 
two  of  the  illustrious  guardians  of  the  law,  two  Chicago  detec- 
tives. Let  Mr.  Grinnell,  let  the  Citizens'  Association,  his  em- 
ployer, let  them  answer  for  themselves,  and  let  the  people — let 
the  public — sit  in  judgment  upon  these  would-be  assassins.  No, 
I  reply,  the  Prosecution  has  not  established  our  legal  guilt,  not- 
withstanding the  purchased  and  perjured  testimony  of  some, 
and  notwithstanding  the  originality  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
trial.  And  as  long  as  this  has  not  been  done,  and  you  pro- 
nounce the  sentence  of  the  appointed  viligante  committee  acting 
as  a  jury,  I  say  that  you,  the  alleged  servant  and  high  priests  of 
the  law,  are  the  real  and  only  law-breakers,  and  in  this  case  you 
go  to  the  extent  of  murder.  It  is  well  that  the  people  know 
this.  And  when  I  speak  of  the  people  I  do  not  mean  the  few 
conspirators  of  Grinnell,  the  noble  patricians  who  are  murderers 
of  those  whom  they  please  to  oppress.  Those  citizens  may  con- 
stitute the  state.  They  may  control  the  state ;  they  may  have 
their  Grinnells,  Bonfields,  and  their  hirelings.  No,  when  I 
speak  of  the  people,  I  speak  of  the  great  mass  of  working  beasts, 
who  unfortunately  are  not  yet  conscious  of  the  rascalities  that 
are  perpetrated  in  the  name  of  the  people — in  their  name.  They 
condemn  the  murder  of  eight  men  whose  only  crime  is  that  they 
have  dared  to  speak  the  truth.  This  murder  may  open  the  eyes 
of  these  suffering  millions,  may  wake  them  up  indeed.  I  have 
noticed  that  our  conviction  has  worked  miracles  in  this  direction 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  153 

already.  The  class  that  clamors  for  our  lives,  the  good  and  devout 
Chris  tians,  have  attempted  in  every  way,  through  their  newspa- 
pers and  otherwise,  to  conceal  the  true  and  only  issue  in  this  case, 
by  designating  the  defendants  Anarchists  and  picturing  them 
as  a  newly-discovered  tribe  or  species  of  cannibles,  by  inventing 
shocking  and  horrifying  stories  of  their  conspiracies. 

"I  believe  with  Buckle,  with  Paine,  with  Jefferson,  with 
Emerson,  with  Spencer,  and  with  many  other  great  thinkers  of 
this  century,  that  the  state  of  caste  and  classes,  the  state  where 
one  class  dominates  and  lives  upon  the  labor  of  another  class 
and  calls  it  order,  should  be  abolished.  Yes,  I  believe  that  this 
barbaric  form  of  social  organization,  with  its  legalized  thunder 
and  murder,  is  doomed  to  die  and  make  room  for  free  society — 
volunteer  associations  if  you  like — universal  brotherhood.  You 
may  pronounce  your  sentence  upon  me,  honorable  judge,  but 
let  the  world  know  that  in  the  year  A.  D.  1886,  in  the  state  of 
Illinois,  eight  men  were  sentenced  to  death  because  they  had 
not  lost  their  faith  in  the  ultimate  victory  of  liberty  and  justice. 
Read  the  history  of  Greece  and  Rome;  read  that  of  Venice. 
Look  over  the  dark  pages  of  the  church  and  follow  the  thorny 
path  of  science.     No  change!     No  change! 

11  You  would  destroy  society  and  civilization,  as  ever,  upon 
the  cry  of  the  ruling  classes.  They  are  so  comfortably  situated 
under  the  prevailing  system  that  they  naturally  abhor  and  fear 
even  the  slightest  changes.  Their  privileges  are  as  dear  to  them 
as  life  itself,  and  every  change  threatens  these  privileges.  But 
civilization  is  a  record  whose  steps  are  monuments  of  such 
changes.  Without  these  social  changes,  always  brought  about 
against  the  will  and  against  the  force  of  the  ruling  classes,  there 
would  be  no  civilization.     As  to  the   destruction  of  society, 


154  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

which  we  have  been  accused  of  seeking,  it  sounds  like  one  of 
^Esop's  fables — like  the  cunning  of  the  fox.  We,  who  have 
jeopardized  our  lives  to  save  society  from  the  fiend  that  has 
grasped  her  by  the  throat,  that  seeks  her  life-blood  and  devours 
her  substance;  we,  who  would  heal  her  bleeding  wounds,  who 
would  free  her  from  the  fetters  you  have  wrought  around  her, 
from  the  misery  you  have  brought  upon  her — we  are  enemies. 
We  have  preached  dynamite,  it  is  said,  and  Ave  have  predicted 
from  the  lessons  history  has  taught  us,  that  the  ruling  class  of 
to  day  would  no  more  listen  to  the  voice  of  reason  than  did 
their  predecessors.  They  would  attempt  by  brute  force  to  stay 
the  march  of  progress.  Was  it  a  lie,  or  was  it  the  truth  that  we 
stated  ?  *  *  *  I  have  been  a  citizen  of  this  city  fully  as 
long  as  Mr.  Grinnell,  and  am  probably  as  good  a  citizen  as 
Grinnell.  At  least  I  should  not  wish  to  be  compared  to  him. 
Grinnell  has  appealed  time  and  again,  as  has  been  stated  by 
our  attorneys,  to  the  patriotism  of  the  jury.  To  that  I  reply, 
and  I  will  simply  use  the  words  of  an  English  literateur,  'Pa- 
triotism is  the  last  resort  of  the  scoundrel.1  My  friends'  agita- 
tion in  behalf  of  the  disinherited  and  disfranchised  millions, 
and  my  agitation  in  this  direction,  the  popularization  of  the 
economic  teachings  in  favor  of  the  education  of  wage-workers, 
is  declared  to  be  a  conspiracy  against  society.  The  word  *  so- 
ciety '  is  here  wisely  substituted  for  state,  as  represented  by  the 
patricians  of  to-day.  It  has  always  been  the  opinion  of  the  rul- 
ing classes  that  the  people  must  be  kept  in  ignorance.  They 
lose  their  sevility,  modesty,  and  obedience  to  the  arbitrary  pow- 
ers that  be,  as  their  intelligence  grows.  The  education  of  a 
blackman,  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  was  a  criminal  offense. 
Why  ?     Because  the  intelligent  slave  would  throw  off  his  shack- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  155 

les  at  whatever  cost,  my  Christian  gentlemen.  Why  is  the  ed- 
ucation of  the  working  classes  to-day  looked  upon  by  a  certain 
class  as  treason  against  the  State  ?  For  the  same  reason !  The 
State,  however,  wisely  avoided  this  point  in  the  prosecution  of  the 
case.  From  their  testimony  one  would  really  conclude  that  we 
had  in  our  speeches  and  publications  preached  nothing  else  but 
destruction  and  dynamite.  *  *  *  You,  gentlemen,  are  the 
revolutionists.  You  rebel  against  the  effects  of  social  condi- 
tions which  have  tossed  you  by  fortune's  hand  into  a  magnifi- 
cent paradise.  Without  inquiring,  you  imagine  that  no  one 
else  has  a  right  in  that  place.  You  insist  that  you  are  the 
chosen  ones,  the  sole  proprietors  of  forces  that  tossed  you  into 
the  paradise.  The  industrial  forces  are  still  at  work.  They  are 
growing  more  active  and  intense  from  day  to  day.  There  tend- 
ency is  to  elevate  all  mankind  to  the  same  level ;  to  have  all  hu- 
manity share  in  the  paradise  you  now  monopolize.  Can  you 
roll  back  the  incoming  tide  or  angry  waves  of  old  ocean  by  for- 
bidding it  to  dash  upon  the  shore  ?  So  you  can  no  more  frighten 
back  the  rising  waves  of  intelligence  and  progress  into  their  un- 
fathomable depths  by  erecting  a  few  gallows  in  the  perspective. 
You,  who  oppose  the  natural  forces  of  things,  you  are  the  real 
revolutionists.  You,  and  you  alone,  are  the  conspirators  and 
destructionists." 

ADOLPH    FISCHER. 

"  Your  Honor,  you  asked  me  why  the  sentence  of  death 
should  not  be  passed  upon  me.  I  will  not  talk  much.  I  will 
only  say  a  few  words,  and  that  is  that  I  protest  against  my  be- 
ing sentenced  to  death,  because  I  committed  no  crime.  I  was 
tried  here  in  this  room  for  murder  and  I  was  convicted  of  An- 


156  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

archy.  I  protest  against  being  sentenced  to  death,  because  I 
have  not  been  found  guilty  of  murder.  I  have  been  tried  for 
murder,  but  I  have  been  convicted  because  I  am  an  Anarchist. 
Although  being  one  of  the  parties  who  were  at  the  Haymarket 
meeting,  I  had  no  more  to  do  with  the  throwing  of  that  bomb, 
I  had  no  more  connection  with  it  than  State's  Attorney  Grin- 
nell  had  perhaps. 

"  As  I  said,  it  is  a  fact,  and  I  do  not  deny  that  I  was  one  of 
the  parties  who  called  at  the  Haymarket  meeting,  but  that 
meeting — (At  this  point  Mr.  Salomon  stepped  up  and  spoke  to 
Fischer  in  a  low  tone,  but  Fischer  waived  him  off  and  said : 
Mr.  Salomon,  be  so  kind.  I  know  what  I  am  talking  about.) 
Now,  that  Haymarket  meeting  was  not  called  for  the  purpose 
of  committing  violence  and  crime.  No ;  but  the  meeting  was 
called  for  the  purpose  of  protesting  against  the  outrages  and 
against  the  crimes  of  the  police  committed  on  the  day  previous 
out  at  McCorniick's.  The  next  day  I  went  to  Wehrer  <fc  Klein 
and  had  twenty -five  thousand  copies  of  the  hand  bills  printed, 
and  I  invited  Spies  to  speak  at  Haymarket  meeting.  It  is  the 
fact,  and  I  don't  deny  it,  in  the  original  of  the  '  copy '  I  had  the 
line  '  Working  men,  arm  ! '  and  I  had  my  reasons,  too,  for  put- 
ting those  lines  in,  because  I  didn't  want  the  working  men  to 
be  shot  down  in  that  meeting  as  on  other  occasions.  But  as 
those  circulars  were  printed  and  brought  over  to  the  Arbeiter 
Zeitung  office,  my  comrade,  Spies,  saw  one  of  those  circulars.  I 
had  invited  him  to  speak  before  that.  He  showed  the  circular 
and  said  :  '  Well.  Fischer,  if  those  circulars  are  distributed  I 
won't  speak/  And  I  admitted  it  would  be  better  to  take  those 
lines  out ;  and  Mr.  Spies  spoke.  And  that  is  all  I  had  to  do  with 
that  meeting.     I  feel  that  I  am  sentenced,  or  will  be  sentenced 


ADOLPH  FISCHER. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  157 

to  death  because  I  am  an  Anarchist,  and  not  because  1  am  a 
murderer.  I  have  never  been  a  murderer.  I  have  never  com- 
mitted any  crime  in  my  life  yet ;  but  I  know  a  certain  man  who 
is  on  the  way  to  becoming  a  murderer,  an  assassin,  and  that 
man  is  Grinnell — the  State's  Attorney  Grinnell — because  he 
brought  men  on  the  witness  stand  whom  he  knew  would  swear 
falsely ;  and  I  publicly  denounce  Mr.  Grinnell  as  being  a  mur- 
derer and  an  assassin  if  I  should  be  executed.  But,  if  the  rul- 
ing classes  think  that  by  hanging  us,  hanging  a  few  Anarchists > 
they  can  crush  out  Anarchy,  they  will  be  badly  mistaken,  be- 
cause the  Anarchist  loves  his  principles  more  than  his  life  An 
Anarchist  is  always  ready  to  die  for  his  principles." 

MICHAEL    SCHWAB. 

"It  is  not  much  I  have  to  say,  and  I  would  say  nothing  at 
all  if  keeping  silence  did  not  look  like  a  cowardly  approval  of 
what  has  been  done  here.  To  those,  the  proceedings  of  a  trial 
of  justice  would  be  a  sneer.  Justice  has  not  been  done.  More 
than  that,  could  not  be  done.  If  one  class  is  arraigned  against 
the  other  class  it  is  idle  and  hypocritical  to  talk  about  justice 
and  fairness.  Anarchy  was  on  trial,  as  the  State's  Attorney 
put  it  in  his  closing  speech.  A  doctrine,  an  opinion  hostile  to 
brute  force,  hostile  to  our  present  murderous  sj'stem  of  produc- 
tion and  distribution.  I  am  condemned  to  die  for  writing  news- 
paper articles  and  making  speeches.  The  State's  Attorney 
knows  as  well  as  I  do  that  the  alleged  conversation  between 
Mr.  Spies  and  me  never  took  place.  He  knows  a  good  deal 
more  than  that.  He  knows  all  the  beautiful  works  of  his  or- 
ganizer, Furthmann.  When  I  was  before  the  Coroner's  jury 
two  or  three  witnesses  swore  very  positively  to  having  seen  me 


158  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

at  the  Haymarket  when  Mr.  Parsons  finished  his  speech.  I 
suppose  they  wanted  at  that  time  to  fix  the  bomb-throwing  on 
me,  for  the  first  dispatches  to  Europe  said  that  M.  Schwab  had 
thrown  several  bombs  at  the  police.  Later  on  they  found  that 
would  not  do,  and  then  Schnaubelt  was  the  man.  Anarchy 
was  on  trial.  Little  did  it  matter  who  the  persons  were  to  be 
honored  by  the  prosecution.     *     *     * 

"  As  soon  as  the  word  is  applied  to  us  and  to  our  doctrine 
it  carries  with  it  a  meaning  that  we  Anarchists  see  fit  to  give. 
'Anarchy'  is  Greek,  and  means,  verbatim,  that  we  are  not  be- 
ing ruled.  According  to  our  vocabulary  Anarchy  is  a  state  of 
society  in  which  the  only  government  is  reason;  a  state  of  so- 
ciety in  which  all  human  beings  do  right  for  the  simple  reason 
that  it  is  right,  and  hate  wrong  because  it  is  wrong.  In  such 
a  society  no  compulsion  will  be  necessary.  The  Attorney  of 
the  State  was  wrong  when  he  exclaimed  'Anarchy  is  dead  V 
Anarchy  up  to  the  present  time  existed  only  as  a  doctrine,  and 
Grinnell  has  not  the  power  to  kill  any  doctrine  whatever.  An- 
archy, as  defined  by  us,  is  called  an  idle  dream,  but  that  dream 
was  called  by  God  a  divine  blessing.  One  of  the  three  great 
German  poets  and  a  celebrated  German  critic  of  the  last  cen- 
tury has  also  defined  it.  If  Anarchy  was  the  thing  the  State's 
Attorney  makes  it  out  to  be,  how  could  it  be  that  such  eminent 
scholars  as  Prince  Krapotkine  should  say  what  he  has  said 
about  it  ?  Anarchy  is  a  dream,  but  only  in  the  present.  It 
will  be  realized,  for  reason  will  grow  in  spite  of  all  obstacles. 
Who  is  the  man  that  has  the  cheek  to  tell  us  that  human  de- 
velopment has  already  reached  its  culminating  point?  I  know 
our  ideal  will  not  be  accomplished  this  year  or  next  year,  but 
I  know  it  will  be  accomplished  as  soon  as  possible,  some  day  in 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  159 

tie  future.  It  is  entirely  wrong  to  use  the  word  Anarchy  as 
synonymous  with  violence.  Violence  is  something,  and  An- 
archy is  another.  Tn  the  present  state  of  society  violence  is 
used  on  all  sides,  and  therefore  we  advocated  the  use  of  vio- 
lence against  violence,  but  against  violence  only  as  a  necessary 
means  of  defense.  I  have  never  read  Herr  Most's  book  simply 
because  I  don't  find  time  to  read  it;  and  if  I  had  read  it,  what 
of  it  ?  I  am  an  agnostic,  but  I  like  to  read  the  Bible,  neverthe- 
less. I  have  not  the  slightest  idea  who  threw  the  bomb  at  the 
Haymarket,  and  had  no  knowledge  of  any  conspiracy  to  use 
violence  that  or  any  other  night.1' 

OSCAR    NEEBE. 

"  Your  Honor:  I  have  found  out  during  the  last  few  days 
what  law  is.  Before  I  didn't  know  it.  I  did  not  know  that  I 
was  convicted  because  I  knew  Spies  and  Fielden  and  Parsons. 
I  have  met  these  gentlemen.  I  have  presided  at  a  meeting,  as 
the  evidence  against  me  shows,  in  the  Turner  hall,  to  which 
meeting  your  Honor  was  invited.  The  judges,  the  preachers, 
the  newspaper  men,  and  everybody  was  invited  to  appear  at 
that  meeting  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  Anarchism  and  So- 
cialism. I  was  at  that  hall.  I  am  well  known  among  the 
working  men  of  the  city,  and  I  was  the  one  elected  chairman 
of  that  meeting.  Nobody  appeared  to  speak,  to  discuss  the 
question  of  Labor  and  Anarchism  or  Socialism  with  laboring 
men.  No,  they  couldn't  stand  it.  I  was  chairman  of  that  meet- 
ing; I  don't  deny  it.  I  had  the  honor  to  be  marshal  of  a  labor 
demonstration  in  this  city,  and  I  never  saw  as  respectable  a  lot 
of  men  as  I  saw  that  day. 

"  They  marched  like  soldiers,  and  I  was  proud  that  I  was 


160  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

marshal  of  those  men.  They  were  the  toilers  and  the  working 
men  of  this  city.  The  men  marched  through  the  city  of  Chicago 
to  protest  against  the  wrongs  of  society,  and  I  was  marshal  of 
them.  If  that  is  a  crime,  I  have  found  out — as  a  born  Ameri- 
can— what  I  am  guilty  of.  I  always  thought  I  had  a  right  to 
express  my  opinion,  to  be  chairman  of  a  peaceable  meeting,  and 
to  be  marshal  of  a  demonstration.  My  friends,  the  labor  agi- 
tators, and  the  marshals  of  a  demonstration — was  it  a  crime  to 
be  marshal  of  a  demonstration?  I  am  convicted  of  that.  I 
suppose  Grinnell  thought  after  Oscar  Neebe  was  indicted  for 
murder  the  Arheiter  Zeitung  would  go  down.  But  it  didn't 
happen  that  way.  And  Mr.  Furthmann,  too — he  is  a  scoundrel, 
and  I  can  tell  it  to  you  to  your  face.  There  is  only  one  man 
that  acted  as  a  lawyer,  and  he  is  Mr.  Ingham,  but  you  three 
fellows  have  not. 

I  established  the  paper  and  issued  it  to  the  working  men 
of  the  city  of  Chicago,  and  inside  of  two  weeks  I  had  enough 
money  from  the  toilers — from  hired  girls,  from  men  who  would 
take  the  last  cent  out  of  their  pocket  to  establish  the  paper — to 
buy  a  press.  I  could  not  publish  the  paper  because  the  honor- 
able detectives  and  Mr.  Grinnell  followed  us  up,  and  no  print- 
ing house  would  print  our  paper,  and  we  had  to  have  our  own 
press.  "We  published  our  own  paper  after  we  had  a  press, 
bought  by  the  money  of  the  working  men  of  the  city.  That  is 
the  crime  I  have  committed — getting  men  to  try  and  establish 
a  working-man's  paper  that  will  stand  to-day,  and  I  am  proud 
of  it.  They  have  not  got  one  press — they  have  got  two  presses 
to-day,  and  they  belong  to  the  working  men  of  this  city.  When 
the  first  issue  came  out,  from  that  day  up  to  the  day  now,  your 
Honor,  we  have  gained  4,000  subscribers.     There  are  the  gen- 


LOUIS  LINGG. 


USE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  161 

tlemen  sitting  over  there  from  the  Frele  Presse  and  Stoats  Zei- 
tiuuj — they  know  it.  The  Germans  of  this  city  are  condemning 
these  actions.  They  would  not  read  our  paper.  There  is  the 
crime  of  the  Germans.  I  say  it  is  a  verdict  against  Germans, 
and  I,  as  an  American,  must  say  that  I  never  saw  anything  like 
that. 

"  Those  are  the  crimes  I  have  committed  after  the  4th  of 
May.  Before  the  4th  of  May  I  committed  some  crimes.  I  or- 
ganized trades  unions.  I  was  for  the  reduction  of  the  hours  of 
labor  and  the  education  of  laboring  men  aud  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  Arheiter  Zeitung.  There  is  no  evidence  to  show 
that  I  was  connected  with  the  bomb  throwing,  that  I  was 
near  it  or  anything  of  that  kind.  So  I  am  only  sorry, 
your  Honor,  if  you  can  stop  it  or  help  it,  I  will  ask  you  to  do 
it — that  is,  to  hang  me,  too ;  and  I  think  it  is  more  honor  to  die 
certainly  than  to  be  killed  by  inches.  I  have  a  family  and 
children,  and  if  they  know  their  father  is  dead  they  will  bury 
him.  They  can  go  to  the  grave  and  kneel  down  in  front  of  it ; 
but  they  can't  go  to  Joliet  and  see  their  father  convicted  of  a 
crime  that  he  hasn't  anything  to  do  with.  That  is  all  I  have 
got  to  say.  Your  Honor,  I  am  sorry  I  do  not  get  hung  with 
the  rest  of  the  men." 

LOUIS    LINGG. 

[Translated  by  Prof.  H.  H.  Fick.] 

"  Court  of  Justice :  AVith  the  same  contempt  with  which  I 
have  tried  to  live  humanely  upon  this  American  soil,  I  am  now 
granted  the  privilege  to  speak.  If  I  do  take  the  word  I  do  it 
because  injustice  and  indignities  have  been  heaped  upon  me 
right  here.    I  have  been  accused  of  murder.    What  proofs  have 


162  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

been  brought  iu  support  of  it  ?  It  has  been  proved  that  I  as- 
sisted some  man  by  the  name  of  Seliger  in  manufacturing  bombs. 
It  has  been  furthermore  stated  that  with  the  assistance  of  some- 
body else  I  have  taken  those  bombs  to  58  Clybourn  avenue,  but 
although  one  of  these  assistants  has  been  produced  as  a  State 
witness  it  has  not  been  shown  that  one  of  these  bombs  was 
taken  to  the  Haymarket.  *  *  *  *  AVhat  is  Anarchy?  * 
*  *  The  points  that  we  are  driving  at  have  been  carefully 
withheld  by  the  State.  *  *  *  But  it  has  not  been  said  that 
by  their  superior  force  we  are  driven  to  our  course.  Contempt 
of  court  has  been  charged  against  us.  We  have  been  treated 
as  opponents  of  public  order.  AVhat  is  this  order?  Such  order 
as  represented  by  police  and  detectives?  On  the  slightest  oc- 
casion the  representatives  of  this  public  order  have  forced  them- 
selves into  our  midst.  The  same  police  that  aim  to  give  pro- 
tection to  property  embraces  thieves  in  its  ranks.  *-  *  *  I 
have  told  Capt.  Schaack  that  I  was  at  a  meeting  of  carpenters 
at  Zephf  s  hall  on  May  3.  He  has  stated  that  I  admitted  to 
him  that  I  learned  the  fabrication  of  bombs  from  Most's  book, 
1  Science  of  Warfare.'  That  is  perjury.  *  *  *  It  has  been 
proved  that  Grinnell  has  used  Gilmer  for  his  purpose  intention- 
ally. There  are  points  which  prove  that.  *  *  *  I  say  that 
these  seven  persons  here,  of  which  I  am  one,  are  murdered  pur- 
posely by  Grinnell.  *  *  *  Grinnell  has  the  courage  to  call 
me  a  coward,  right  here  in  this  court  of  justice,  and  Grinnell  is 
a  person  who  has  connived  with  miserable  subjects  to  go  against 
me,  to  get  testimony  against  me,  to  kill  me.  *  *  *  Is  life 
worth  living?  What  are  their  purposes  in  thus  murdering 
these  men  ?  Low  egotism,  which  finds  its  reward  in  a  higher 
position,  and  which  yields  a  return  of  money.     *     *     *     But 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  163 

it  has  been  said  that  the  International  association  of  working 
men  was  in  itself  a  conspiracy,  and  that  I  was  a  member  of  this 
association.  My  colleague,  Spies,  has  already  stated  to  you  how 
we  were  connected.  *  *  *  And  that  is  the  conspiracy  that 
has  been  proved  against  me,  and  for  that  I  am  to  end  my  life 
upon  the  gallows — an  instrument  which  you  consider  a  disgrace 
to  me.  I  declare  here  openly  that  I  do  not  acknowledge  these 
laws,  and  less  so  the  sentence  of  the  Court.  *  *  *  I  would 
not  say  a  word  if  I  was  really  guilty  according  to  this  foolish 
law,  but  even  according  to  these  laws  that  would  not  be  re- 
spected by  a  schoolboy,  not  even  these  laws  have  been  carried 
out  to  the  full  extent  when  I  was  found  guilty.  *  *  *  You 
smile.  You  perhaps  think  I  will  not  use  bombs  any  more,  but 
I  tell  you  I  die  gladly  upon  the  gallows  in  the  sure  hope  that 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  people  to  whom  I  have  spoken  will 
now  recognize  and  make  use  of  dynamite.  In  this  hope  I  de- 
spise you,  and  I  despise  your  laws.     Hang  me  for  it." 

GEORGE    ENGEL. 

[Translated  by  Mr.  Gauss.] 

"  When  I  left  Germany  in  the  year  1872  it  was  by  reason 
of  my  recognition  of  the  fact  that  I  could  not  support  myself  in 
the  future  as  it  was  the  duty  of  a  man  to  do.  I  recognized  that 
I  could  not  make  my  living  in  Germany  because  the  machinery 
and  the  guilds  of  old  no  longer  furnished  me  a  guarantee  to 
live.  I  resolved  to  emigrate  from  Germany  to  the  United 
States,  praised  by  many  so  highly.  When  I  landed  at  Phila- 
delphia, on  the  8th  of  January,  1873,  my  heart  and  my  bosom 
expanded  with  the  expectation  of  living  hereafter  in  that  free 
country  which  had  been  so  often  praised  to  me  by  so  many  em- 


164  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

igrants,  and  I  resolved  to  be  a  good  citizen  of  this  country ;  and 
I  congratulated  myself  on  having  broken  with  Germany,  where 
I  could  have  no  longer  made  my  living,  and  I  think  that  my 
past  will  show  that,  that,  which  I  resolved  I  intended  to 
keep  faithfully.  For  the  first  time  I  stand  before  an  American 
court,  and  at  that  to  be  at  once  condemned  to  death.  And 
what  are  the  causes  that  have  preceded  it,  and  have  brought 
me  into  this  court?  They  are  the  same  things  that  preceded 
my  leaving  Germany,  and  the  same  causes  that  made  me  leave. 
I  have  seen  with  my  own  eyes  that  in  this  free  country,  in  this 
richest  country  of  the  world,  so  to  say,  there  are  existing  pro- 
letarians who  are  pushed  out  of  the  order  of  society." 

After  explaining  how  his  dissatisfaction  with  the  existing 
order  of  things  led  him  to  become  a  Socialist,  Engel  continued : 

"  I  resolved  to  study  Socialism  with  all  my  power.  In  the 
year  1878  I  came  from  Philadelphia  to  Chicago,  and  took  pains 
to  eke  out  my  existence  here  in  Chicago,  and  believed  that  it 
would  be  an  easier  task  to  live  here,  than  in  Philadelphia,  where 
I  had  previously  in  vain  exerted  my  powers  to  live.  I  found 
that,  that  also  was  in  vain.  There  was  no  difference  for  a  pro- 
letariat, whether  he  lived  in  New  York,  or  Philadelphia,  or 
Chicago.  *  *  *  To  make  further  investigations  I  tried  to 
buy,  from  the  money  that  I  and  my  family  earned,  scientific 
books  on  those  questions.  I  bought  the  works  of  Ferdinand 
LaSalle,  Karl  Marx  and  Henry  George.  After  investigating 
these  works  I  recognized  these  reasons  why  a  proletariat  could 
not  exist,  even  in  this  country,  as  free  as  it  is.  I  thought  about 
the  means  by  which  that  could  be  corrected.  They  praised  to 
me  this  country  where  every  man  and  every  working  man  had 
a  right  to  go  to  the  ballot-box  and  choose  his  own  office rs.     I 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  165 

scarcely  believed  that  any  citizen  of  the  United  States  could 
have  meant  so  honestly  and  well  as  I,  when  I  turned  my  atten- 
tion to  politics,  and  took  part  in  them.  But  even  in  this  regard 
of  freedom  of  the  ballot-box  I  found  myself  mistaken.  I  learned 
to  see  that  the  working  man  was  not  free  in  his  opinion,  that 
he  was  not  free  in  vote.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  Socialistic 
party  took  pains  in  former  times,  honest  pains,  to  elect  honest 
officers.  After  a  few  vain  attempts  I  found  that  it  was  impos- 
sible for  a  working  man  to  free  himself  by  means  of  the  ballot- 
box,  and  to  secure  those  things  which  were  necessary  for  his 
existence.  *  *  *  In  this  city  corruption  even  entered  the 
ranks  of  the  Social  Democracy.  I  also  obtained  the  conviction 
that  through  those  men  who  put  themselves  over  us  as  leaders-, 
and  occupied  themselves  with  compromises,  this  was  brought 
about,  and  then  I  left  the  ranks  of  the  Social  Democracy  and 
gave  myself  over  to  the  International  which  was  then  organiz- 
ing; and  what  these  men  wanted,  and  what  these  men  through 
their  exertions  sought  to  bring  about  was  nothing  more  or  less 
than  the  conviction  that  the  freeing  of  the  ruling  classes  could 
only  be  brought  about  by  force,  as  have  all  revolutions  been 
throughout  history.  This  conviction,  before  I  went  over  to 
those  people,  was  obtained  through  study  of  the  history  of  all 
lands.  The  history  of  all  lands  showed  me  that  all  advantages 
in  a  political,  in  a  religious,  and  in  a  material  direction,  were  al- 
ways obtained  only  by  the  use  of  force ;  and  if  I  confine  myself  to 
the  history  of  this  country  where  I  am  convicted,  I  take  into  con- 
sideration that  the  first  emmigrants  into  this  country  and  the 
first  colonists,  only  freed  themselves  by  force  from  the  power  of 
England.  I  afterward  obtained  the  conviction  that  the  slavery 
existing  in  this  country,  to  the  shame  of  the  Republic,  could 


166  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

only  be  put  aside  by  force.  And  what  does  this  history  teach 
us?  The  man  that  spoke  against  existing  slavery  in  this  coun- 
try was  hanged,  as  it  is  intended  that  we  should  be  hanged,  to- 
day. In  the  course  of  time  I  became  convinced  that  all  those 
who  spoke  in  favor  of  the  ruling  classes  must  hang.  And  what 
are  the  reasons  for  it  \  This  Republic  does  not  exist  through, 
and  its  affairs  are  not  conducted  by,  those  persons  who  come 
into  office  by  an  honest  ballot.  *  *  *  Under  these  condi- 
tions it  is  certainly  not  a  wonder  that  there  were  men,  noble 
men,  noble  scientific  men,  who  have  tried  to  find  ways  and 
means  to  bring  back  humanity  to  its  original  condition.  And 
this  is  the  social  science  to  which  I  confess  myself  with  joy. 
The  State's  Attorney  said  here  '  Anarchism  is  on  trial.1  Anar- 
chism and  Socialism  are,  according  to  my  opinion,  as  like  as  one 
egg  is  to  another.  Only  the  tactics  are  different.  Anarchism 
has  abandoned  the  ways  pointed  out  by  Socialism  to  free  man- 
mankind,  and  has  resolved  no  longer  to  bear  the  yoke  of  slavery, 
and,  therefore,  I  say  to  the  working  classes,  do  not  believe  any 
longer  in  the  ballot-box  and  in  those  ways  and  means  that  are 
left  open  to  you;  but  rather  think  about  ways  and  means  when 
the  time  comes,  when  the  burden  of  the  people  becomes  intoler-. 
able.  And  that  is  our  crime.  Because  we  have  named  to  the 
people  the  ways  and  means  by  which  they  could  free  themselves 
in  the  fight  against  Capitalism,  by  reason  of  that,  Anarchism  is 
hated  and  persecuted  in  every  state.  In  spite  of  that  and  again 
in  spite  of  it  Anarchism  will  exist,  and  if  not  in  public  it  will 
exist  in  secret,  because  the  powers  force  it  to  act  in  secret.  If 
the  State's  Attorney  declares  or  thinks  that  after  he  has  hanged 
these  seven  men  and  sent  the  other  one  to  the  penitentiary  for 
fifteen  years  he  Las  then  killed  Anarchism,  I  say,  that  will  not 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 


167 


be  so.  Only  the  tactics  will  be  changed,  and  that  will  be  all. 
No  power  in  the  world  will  tear  from  the  working  man  his 
knowledge  and  his  skill  or  opportunity  in  making  bonibs.  I 
am  convinced  that  Anarchism  cannot  be  routed  out, — if  that 
was  the  case  it  would  have  been  routed  out  in  other  countries 
long  ago — in  the  least  by  our  murdering  the  Anarchists.  That 
evening  when  the  first  bomb  in  this  country  was  thrown,  I  was 
sitting  in  my  room;  did  not  know  anything  about  the  conspir- 
acy; did  not  know  anything  about  that  deed;  did  not  know 
anything  about  the  bomb;  did  not  know  anything  about  the 
conspiracy  which  the  State's  Attorney  had  brought  about  here. 
*  *  *  Can  you  have  respect  for  a  government  that  only 
gives  rights  to  the  privileged  classes,  but  to  the  working  men 
not  at  all,  although  there  are  conspiracies  in  all  classes  and  con- 
nections of  the  capitalistic  class.  Although  we  have  only  re- 
cently experienced  that  the  coal  barons  came  together,  put  up 
the  price  of  coal  arbitrarily  while  they  paid  less  wages  to  their 
working  men,  and  wherever  those  coal  workers,  those  miners 
have  come  together  to  consider  the  bettering  their  conditions, 
their  demands  have  always  been  very  modest  on  the  whole, 
then  the  militia  appears  at  once  upon  the  scene  and  helps  those 
people,  while  they  are  feeding  the  miners  with  powder  and  lead. 
For  such  a  government  I  have  no  respect,  and  can  have  no  re- 
spect in  spite  of  all  their  followers,  in  spite  of  all  their  police, 
in  spite  of  all  their  spies. 

"  I  am  not  a  man  who  hates  a  single  capitalist.  I  am  not 
the  man  who  at  all  hates  the  person  of  the  capitalist.  I  hate 
the  system  and  all  privileges,  and  my  greatest  desire  is  that  the 
working  classes  will  at  last  recognize  who  are  their  friends  and 


168  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

who  are  their  enemies.     Against  the  condemnation  of  myself 
by  the  capitalistic  influence  I  have  no  word  to  say." 

SAM    FIELDEN. 

Fielden  prefaced  his  plea  by  reciteing  a  poem  called  "  Rev- 
olution,1 written  by  Freilegrath,  a  German  poet: 

"  And  tho'  ye  caught  your  noble  prey  within  your  hangman's  sordid  thrall, 
And  tho'  your  captive  was  led  forth  beneath  your  city's  rampart  wall; 
And  tho'  the  grass  lies  o'er  her  green,  where  at  the  morning's  early  red 
The  peasant  girl  brings  funeral  wreaths — I  tell  you  still — she  is  not  dead! 


"  You  see  me  only  in  your  cells;  ye  see  me  only  in  the  grave; 
Ye  see  me  only  wandering  lone,  beside  the  exile's  sullen  wave — 
Ye  fools  !     Do  I  not  live  where  you  have  tried  to  pierce  in  vain  ? 
Rests  not  a  nook  for  me  to  dwell,  in  every  heart,  and  every  brain  ? 


*'  'Tis  therefore  I  will  be — and  lead  the  peoples  yet  your  hosts  to  meet, 
And  on  your  necks,  your  heads,  your  crowns,  will  plant  my  strong,  resistless 

feet! 
It  is  no  boast— it  is  no  threat — tbus  history's  iron  law  decrees — 
The  day  grows  hot,  oh,  Babylon  !     'Tis  cool  beneath  thy  willow  trees  ! w 

Fielden  continued:  "It  makes  a  great  deal  of  difference, 
perhaps,  what  kind  of  a  revolutionist  a  man  is.  The  men  who 
have  been  on  trial  here  for  Anarchy  have  been  asked  the  ques- 
tion on  the  witness  stand  if  they  were  revolutionists.  It  is  not 
generally  considered  to  be  a  crime  among  intellectual  people  to 
be  a  revolutionist,  but  it  may  be  made  a  crime  if  a  revolutionist 
happens  to  be  poor.  *  *  *  If  I  had  known  that  I  was  be- 
ing tried  for  Anarchy  I  could  have  answered  that  charge.  I 
could  have  justified  it  under  the  constitutional  right  of  every 
citizen  of  this  country,  and  more  than  the  right  which  any  con- 
stitution can  give,  the  natural  right  of  the  human  mind  to  draw 
its  conclusion  from  whatever  information  it  can  gain,  but  I  had 
no  opportunities  to  show  why  I  was  an  Anarchist.     I  was  told 


SAM'L  FIELDEN. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  169 

that  I  was  to  be  hung  for  being  an  Anarchist,  after  I  had  got 
through  defending  myself  on  the  charge  of  murder." 

Fielden  related  that  he  was  born  in  Lancashire;  that  his  first 
speech  was  made  to  starving  operatives  in  the  streets  of  his  na- 
tive town ;  that  it  was  here  he  began  to  hate  kings  and  queens ; 
his  first  speech  was  in  support  of  the  operatives  of  Lancashire 
as  against  the  sympathizers  with  the  South  in  the  American  re- 
bellion ;  he  came  to  the  United  States  in  1808  and  was  a  Meth- 
odist exhorter  in  Ohio,  and  came  to  Chicago  in  1869.  Fielden 
detailed  how  he  had  come  to  be  a  Socialist  and  Anarchist ;  re- 
viewing the  various  speeches  he  had  made  at  meetings  in  Chi- 
cago; attacking  the  veracity  of  witnesses  who  had  testified 
against  him,  and  declaring  himself  the  victim  of  illegal  prose- 
cution.    He  continued: 

"  From  the  time  I  became  a  Socialist  I  learned  more  and 
more  what  it  was.  I  knew  that  I  had  found  the  right  thing ; 
that  I  had  found  the  medicine  that  was  calculated  to  cure  the 
ills  of  society.  Having  found  it,  I  believed  it,  and  I  had  a 
right  to  advocate  it,  and  I  did.  The  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  when  it  says :  '  The  right  of  free  speech  shall  not  be 
abridged,'  gives  every  man  the  right  to  speak.  I  have  advo- 
cated the  principles  of  Socialism  and  social  equality,  and  for 
that  and  no  other  reason  am  I  here,  and  sentence  of  death  is  to 
be  pronounced  upon  me.  What  is  Socialism  I  Taking  some- 
body else's  property  ?  That  is  what  Socialism  is  in  the  common 
acceptation  of  the  term.  No ;  but  if  I  were  to  answer  it  as 
shortly  and  as  curtly  as  it  is  answered  by  its  enemies.  I  would 
say  it  is  preventing  somebody  else  from  taking  your  projDerty. 
But  Socialism  is  equality.  Socialism  recognizes  the  fact  that  no 
man  in  society  is  responsible  for  what  he  is ;  that  all  the  ills 


170  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

that  are  in  society  are  the  production  of  poverty ;  and  scientific 
Socialism  says  that  you  must  go  to  the  root  of  the  evil.  There 
is  no  criminal  statistician  in  the  world  but  will  acknowledge 
that  all  the  crime,  when  traced  to  its  origin,  is  the  product  of 
poverty.  *  *  *  If  I  am  to  be  convicted — hanged  for  tell- 
ing the  truth,  the  little  child  that  kneels  by  its  mother's  side 
on  the  West  side  to-day  and  tells  its  mother  that  he  wants  his 
papa  to  come  home,  and  to  whom  I  had  intended  as  soon  as  its 
prattling  tongue  should  begin  to  talk,  to  teach  that  beautiful 
sentiment — that  child  had  better  never  be  taught  to  read  ;  had 
better  never  be  taught  that  sentiment  to  love  truth.  If 
they  are  to  be  convicted  of  murder  because  they  dare  tell  what 
they  think  is  the  truth,  then  it  would  be  better  that  every  one 
of  your  schoolhouses  were  reduced  to  the  ground  and  one  stone 
not  left  upon  another.  If  you  teach  your  children  to  read  they 
will  acquire  curiosity  from  what  they  read.  They  will  think, 
and  then  will  search  for  the  meaning  of  this  and  that  They 
will  arrive  at  conclusions.  And  then  if  they  love  the  truth, 
they  must  tell  to  each  other  what  is  truth  or  what  they  think 
is  the  truth.  That  is  the  sum  of  my  offending.  *  *  *  The 
private  property  system  then,  in  my  opinion,  being  a  system 
that  only  subserves  the  interests  of  a  few,  and  can  only  subserve 
the  interests  of  the  few,  has  no  mercy-  It  cannot  stop  for  the 
consideration  of  such  a  sentiment.  Naturally  it  cannot.  So 
you  ought  not  to  have  mercy  upon  the  private  property  system, 
because  it  is  well  known  that  there  are  many  people  in  the  com- 
munity with  prejudices  in  their  minds.  They  have  grown  up 
under  certain  social  regulations,  and  they  believe  that  those 
social  regulations  are  right,  just  as  Mr.  Grinnell  believes  that 
everything  in  America  is  right,  because  he  happened  to  be  born 


RISE  AND  FAI.L  OF  ANARCHY.  171 

here.  And  they  have  such  a  prejudice  against  any  one  who 
attacks  those  systems.  Now,  I  say  they  ought  not  to  have  any 
mercy  upon  systems  that  do  nor  subserve  their  interests.  They 
ought  not  to  have  any  respect  for  them  that  would  interfere 
with  their  abolishing  them." 

Fielden  maintained  that  the  throwing  of  the  bomb  at  the 
Haymarket  was  a  complete  surprise  to  him;  that  he  felt  that  he 
would  be  held  in  some  respect,  at  least  responsible,  yet  he  re- 
solved not  to  attempt  flight ;  continuing :  "  I  have  said  here 
that  I  thought  when  the  representatives  of  the  State  had  in- 
quired by  means  of  their  policemen  as  to  my  connection  with  it, 
I  should  have  been  released.  And  I  say  now,  in  view  of  all  the 
authorities  that  have  been  read  on  the  law  and  accessory,  that 
there  is  nothing  in  evidence  that  has  been  introduced  to  connect 
me  with  that  affair.  *  *  *  The  great  Socialist  who  lived  in 
this  world  nearly  1,900  years  ago,  Jesus  Christ,  has  left  these 
words,  and  there  are  no  grander  words  in  which  the  principles 
of  justice  and  right  are  conveyed  in  any  language.  He  said : 
4  Better  that  ninety-nine  guilty  men  should  go  unpunished  than 
that  one  innocent  man  should  suffer.'  Mr.  Grinnell,  I  should 
judge  from  his  statements  here,  is  a  Christian.  I  would  ask  him 
to  apply  that  statement  of  the  Great  Teacher  to  the  different 
testimony  that  has  been  given  here,  and  the  direct  contrary  in 
other  places  in  the  investigation  of  this  case.  Your  Honor,  we 
claim  that  this  is  a  class  verdict.  We  claim  that  the  foulest 
criminal  that  could  have  been  picked  up  in  the  slums  of  any 
city  in  Christendom,  or  outside  of  it,  would  never  have  been 
convicted  on  such  testimony  as  has  been  brought  in  here  if  he 
had  not  been  a  dangerous  man  in  the  opinion  of  the  privileged 
classes.     *     *     *     If  my  life  is  to  be  taken  for  advocating  the 


172  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

principles  of  Socialism  and  Anarchy,  as  I  have  understood  them 
and  honestly  believe  them  to  be  in  the  interests  of  humanity,  I 
say  to  you  that  I  gladly  give  it  up ;  and  the  price  is  very  small 
for  the  result  that  is  gained.  *  *  *  We  claim  that  so  far 
as  we  have  been  able  to  find  out  in  trying  to  find  a  cure  for  the 
ills  of  society,  we  have  not  found  out  anything  that  has  seemed 
to  fit  the  particular  diseases  which  society  in  our  opinion  is  af- 
flicted with  to-day,  better  than  the  principles  of  Socialism.  And 
your  Honor,  Socialism,  when  it  is  thoroughly  understood  in 
this  community  and  in  the  world,  as  it  is  by  us,  I  believe  that 
the  world,  which  is  generally  honest,  prejudiced  though  it  may 
be,  will  not  be  slow  to  adopt  its  principles.  And  it  will  be  a 
good  time,  a  grand  day  for  the  world;  it  will  be  a  grand  day 
for  humanity ;  it  will  never  have  taken  a  step  so  far  onward  to- 
ward perfection,  if  it  can  ever  reach  that  goal,  as  it  will  when 
it  adopts  the  principles  of  Socialism.  *  *  *  To-day,  as  the 
beautiful  autumn  sun  kisses  with  balmy  breeze  the  cheek  of 
every  free  man,  I  stand  here  never  to  bathe  my  head  i:i  it>  rays 
again.  I  have  loved  my  fellow  men  as  I  have  loved  myself.  I 
have  hated  trickery,  dishonesty  and  injustice.  The  nineteenth 
century  commits  the  crime  of  killing  its  best  friend.  It  will 
live  to  repent  of  it.  But,  as  I  have  said  before,  if  it  will  do  any 
good,  I  freely  give  myself  up.  I  trust  the  time  will  come  when 
there  will  be  a  better  understanding,  more  intelligence,  and 
above  the  mountains  of  iniquity,  wrong  and  corruption,  T  hope 
the  sun  of  righteousness  and  truth  and  justice  will  come  to 
bathe  in  its  balmy  light  an  emancipated  world.  I  thank  your 
Honor  for  your  attention." 

A.    R.    PARSONS. 

Parsons  made  a  speech  addressed  in  the  main  to  working 


A.  R.  PARSONS. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  173 

men,  starting  out  with  the  recital  of  a  poem  by  George  Heinig, 
entitled  "Bread  is  Freedom."     He  continued: 

44  Your  Honor,  if  there  is  one  distinguishing  characteristic 
which  has  made  itself  prominent  in  the  conduct  of  this  trial  it 
has  been  the  passion,  the  heat,  and  the  anger,  the  violence  both 
to  sentiment  and  to  feeling,  of  everything  connected  with  this 
case.  You  ask  me  why  sentence  of  death  should  not  be  pro- 
nounced upon  me,  or,  what  is  tantamount  to  the  same  thing, 
you  ask  me  why  you  should  give  me  a  new  trial  in  order  that  I 
might  establish  my  innocence  and  the  ends  of  justice  be  sub- 
served. I  answer  you,  your  Honor,  and  say  that  this  verdict  is 
the  verdict  of  passion,  born  in  passion,  nurtured  in  passion,  and 
is  the  sum  totality  of  the  organized  passion  of  the  city  of  Chi- 
cago. For  this  reason  I  ask  your  suspension  of  the  sentence, 
and  a  new  trial.  This  is  one  among  the  many  reasons  which  I 
hope  to  present  to  your  Honor  before  1  conclude.  Now,  your 
Honor,  what  is  passion  ?  Passion  is  the  suspension  of  reason ; 
in  a  mob  upon  the  streets,  in  the  broils  of  the  saloon,  in  the 
quarrels  on  the  sidewalk,  where  men  throw  aside  their  reason 
and  resort  to  feelings  of  exasperation,  we  have  passion.  There 
is  a  suspension  of  the  elements  of  judgment,  of  calmness,  of  dis- 
crimination requisite  to  arrive  at  the  truth  and  the  establish- 
ment of  justice.  I  hold,  your  Honor,  that  you  can  not  dispute 
the  proposition  that  I  make  that  this  trial  has  been  submerged, 
immerced  in  passion  from  its  inception  to  its  close,  and  even  at 
this  hour,  standing  here  upon  the  scaffold  as  I  do  with  the  hang- 
man awaiting  me  with  his  halter,  there  are  those  who  claim  to 
represent  public  sentiment  in  the  city,  and  I  now  speak  of  the 
capitalistic  press — that  vile  and  infamous  organ  and  monopoly 
of  hired  liars,  the  people's   oppressors/1     Parsons  claimed  to 


174  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

have  been  for  thirty  years  identified  with  labor  interests,  and 
said :  "  And  in  what  I  say  upon  this  subject  relating  to  the  la- 
bor movement  or  to  myself  as  connected  in  this  trial  or  before 
this  bar,  L  will  speak  the  truth,  though  my  tongue  should  be 
torn  from  my  mouth  and  my  throat  cut  from  ear  to  ear,  so  help 
me  God.v  The  speaker  then  went  into  statistics,  claiming  that 
9,000,000  out  of  the  12,000,000  voters  in  the  United  States 
were  actual  wage  workers.  He  attacked  the  citizens'  Associa- 
tion as  an  organization  of  millionaires,  and  claimed  that  the 
Court  should  stand  between  the  accused  and  their  persecuters. 
'Where,11  he  asked,  uare  the  ends  of  justice  observed,  and 
where  is  truth  found  in  hurrying  seven  human  beings  at  the 
rate  of  express  speed  upon  a  fast  train  to  the  scaffold,  and  an 
ignominious  death  ?  Why,  if  your  Honor  please,  the  very  method 
of  our  extermination,  the  deep  damnation  of  its  taking  off,  ap- 
peals to  your  Honor's  sense  of  justice,  of  rectitude,  and  of  honor. 
A  judge  may  also  be  an  unjust  man.  Such  things  have  been 
known.  We  have  in  our  histories  heard  of  Lord  Jeffreys.  It 
need  not  follow  that  because  a  man  is  a  judge  he  is  also  jnst. 

*  *  *  Now,  I  hold  that  our  execution,  as  the  matter  stands 
just  now,  would  be  judicial  murder,  and  judicial  murder  is  far 
worse  than  lynch  law — far  worse.  But,  your  Honor,  bear  in 
mind  please,  this  trial  was  conducted  by  a  mob,  prosecuted  by 
a  mob,  by  the  shrieks  and  the  howls  of  a  mob,  an  organized 
powerful  mob.  The  trial  is  over.  Now,  your  Honor,  you  sit 
there  judicially,  calmly,  quietly,  and  it  is  now  for  you  to  look  at 
this  thing  from  the  standpoint  of  reason  and  from  common  sense. 

*  *  *  Now,  the  money-makers,  the  business  men,  those 
people  who  deal  in  stocks  and  bonds,  the  speculators  and  em- 
ployers, all  that  class  of  men  known  as  the  money -making  class, 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  175 

they  have  no  conception  of  this  labor  question ;  they  don't  un- 
derstand what  it  means.  To  use  the  street  parlance,  with  many 
of  them  it  is  a  difficult  matter  for  them  to  '  catcli  onto '  it,  and 
they  are  perverse  also ;  they  will  have  no  knowledge  of  it. 
They  don't  want  to  know  anything  about  it,  and  they  won't 
hear  anything  about  it,  and  they  propose  to  club,  lock  up,  and 
if  necessary  strangle  those  who  insist  on  their  hearing  this  ques- 
tion. Now,  your  Honor,  can  you  deny  that  there  is  such  a 
thing  in  the  world  as  the  labor  question  ?  I  am  an  Anarchist. 
Now  strike  !  But  hear  me  before  you  strike.  What  is  Social- 
ism, briefly  stated?  It  is  the  right  of  the  toiler  to  the  free  and 
equal  use  of  the  tools  of  production,  and  the  right  of  the  pro- 
ducer to  their  product.  That  is  Socialism.  The  history  of 
mankind  is  one  of  growth.  It  has  been  evolutionary  and  rev- 
olutionary." 

Parsons  went  into  an  explanation  of  the  wage  question  and 
the  relations  of  capital  and  labor,  asserting  that  employers  in 
owning  capital  and  leaving  nothing  to  the  wage  slave  but  the 
price  of  his  work,  had  produced  a  conflict  which  would  inten- 
sify as  the  power  of  the  priviledged  classes  over  the  non-pos- 
session of  property  classes  increased.  He  continued:  "We 
were  told  by  the  Prosecution  that  law  is  on  trial ;  that  govern- 
ment is  on  trial.  That  is  what  the  gentlemen  on  the  other  side 
have  stated  to  the  jury.  The  law  is  on  trial,  and  govern- 
ment is  on  trial.  Well,  up  to  the  conclusion  of  this  trial  we, 
the  defendants,  supposed  that  we  were  indicted  and  being  tried 
for  murder.  Now,  if  the  law  is  on  trial,  and  the  government  is 
on  trial,  who  has  placed  it  upon  trial?  And  I  leave  it  to  the 
people  of  America  whether  the  prosecution  in  this  case  have 
made  out  a  case ;  and  I  charge  it  here  now,  frankly,  that  in  or- 


176  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

der  to  bring  about  this  conviction  the  Prosecution,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  State,  the  sworn  officers  of  the  law — those 
whose  duty  it  is  to  the  people  to  obey  the  law  and  preserve  or- 
der— I  charge  upon  them  a  willful,  a  malicious,  a  purposed 
violation  of  every  law  which  guarantees  every  right  to  every 
American  citizen.  They  have  violated  free  speech.  In  the 
prosecution  of  this  case  they  have  violated  a  free  press.  They 
have  violated  the  right  of  public  assembly.  Yea,  they  have 
even  violated  and  denounced  the  right  of  self-defense.  I  charge 
the  crime  home  to  them.  *  *  *  My  own  deliberate  opinion 
concerning  this  Haymarket  affair  is  that  the  death-dealing  mis- 
sile was  the  work,  the  deliberate  work  of  monopoly — the  act 
of  those  who  themselves  charge  us  with  the  deed.  I  am  not 
alone  in  this  view  of  this  matter,  What  are  the  real  facts  of 
that  Haymarket  tragedy?  Mayor  Harrison  of  Chicago  has 
caused  to  be  published  his  opinion,  in  which  he  says:  "  I  did 
not  believe  that  there  was  any  intention  on  the  part  of  Spies 
and  those  men  to  have  bombs  thrown  at  the  Haymarket.'  He 
knows  more  about  this  thing  than  the  jury  that  sat  in  this  room, 
for  he  knows — I  suspect  that  the  Mayor  knows — of  some  of  the 
methods  by  which  some  of  this  evidence  and  testimony  might 
have  been  manufactured.  I  don't  charge  it,  your  Honor,  but 
possibly  he  has  had  some  intimation  of  it,  and  if  he  has  he 
knows  more  about  this  case  and  the  merits  of  this  case  than  did 
the  jury  who  sat  here.  *  *  *  Before  the  trial  began,  dur- 
ing its  prosecution,  and  since  its  close,  a  Satanic  press  has 
shrieked  and  howled  itself  wild,  like  ravenous  hyenas,  for  the 
blood  of  these  eight  working  men.  Now,  this  subsidized  press, 
in  the  pay  of  the  monopoly  and  of  laborers  and  slavers,  com- 
manded this  Court  and  commanded  this  jury  and  this  Prosecu- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  177 

tion  to  convict  us.  As  a  fitting  climax  to  this  damnable  con- 
spiracy against  our  lives  and  liberty,  what  follows  ?  O  hide 
your  eye  now!  hide  it!  hide  it !  As  a  fitting  climax  to  this  dam- 
nable conspiracy  against  our  lives  and  liberty  some  of  Chicago's 
millionaires  proposed  to  raise  a  purse  of  $100,000  and  present 
it  to  the  jury  for  their  verdict  of  guilty  against  us.  This  was 
done,  as  everybody  knows,  in  the  last  days  of  the  trial,  and  since 
the  verdict  so  far  as  anybody  knows  to  the  contrary,  this  blood 
mouey  has  been  paid  over  to  that  jury.  *  *  *  Condemned 
to  death !  Perhaps  you  think  I  do  not  know  what  for  ?  Or 
maybe  you  think  the  people  do  not  understand  your  motives? 
You  are  mistaken.  I  am  here,  standing  in  this  spot  awaiting 
your  sentence,  because  I  hate  and  loathe  authority  in  every 
form.  I  am  doomed  by  you  to  suffer  an  ignominious  death  be- 
cause I  am  the  outspoken  enemy  of  coercion,  of  privilege,  of 
force,  of  authority.  It  is  for  this  you  make  me  suffer.  Think 
you  the  people  are  blind,  are  asleep,  are  indifferent  ?  You  de- 
ceive yourselves.  I  tell  you,  as  a  man  of  the  people,  and  I 
speak  for  them,  that  your  every  word  and  act  and  thoughts  are 
recorded.  You  are  being  weighed  in  the  balance.  The  people 
are  conscious  of  your  power — your  stolen  power.  They  know 
you;  that  while  you  masquerade  as  their  servants  you  are  in 
reality  playing  the  role  of  master.  The  people — the  common 
working  people — know  full  well  that  all  your  wealth,  your  ease 
and  splendor,  have  been  stolen  from  them  by  the  exercise  of 
your  authority  in  the  guise  of  law  and  order.  I,  a  working 
man,  stand  here  and  to  your  face,  in  your  stronghold  of  op- 
pression, and  denounce  to  you  your  crimes  against  humanity.  It  is 
for  this  I  die,  but  my  death  will  not  have  been  in  vain.     I  guess 

I  have  finished.     I  don't  know  as  I  have  anything  more  to  say. 
n 


178  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

Your  Honor  knows  all  I  know  about  this  case.  I  have  taken 
your  Honor's  time  up  that  I  might  be  able  to  lay  this  thing,  the 
whole  thing,  before  you,  reserving  nothing;  opening  my  mind 
and  heart,  telling  you  the  truth,  the  truth,  and  the  whole  truth. 
I  am  innocent  of  this  offense.  I  had  no  connection  with  that 
Haymarket  tragedy.  I  know  nothing  of  it.  I  am  not  respon- 
sible for  it.     I  leave  the  case  in  the  hands  of  your  Honor." 

SENTENCE    PRONOUNCED. 

Parsons  spoke  altogether  nearly  nine  hours,  and  the  ad- 
dresses of  all  the  prisoners  occupied  three  days.  Thousands  of 
people  were  turned  away  during  the  closing  days,  and 
the  scene  in  the  courtroom  when  sentence  was  pronounced 
was  peculiarly  impressive.  At  the  close  of  Parsons'  remarks 
Judge  Gary  delivered  the  following  remarks,  and  pronounced 
the  death  sentence: 

"I  am  quite  well  aware  that  what  you  have  said,  although 
addressed  to  me,  has  been  said  to  the  world ;  yet  nothing  has 
been  said  which  weakens  the  force  of  the  proof  or  the  conclu- 
sions therefrom  upon  which  the  verdict  is  based.  You  are  all 
men  of  intelligence,  and  know  that  if  the  verdict  stands,  it  must 
be  executed.  The  reasons  why  it  shall  stand  I  have  already 
sufficiently  stated  in  deciding  the  motion  for  a  new  trial.  I  am 
sorry  beyond  any  power  of  expression  for  your  unhappy  condi- 
tion and  for  the  terrible  events  that  have  brought  it  about.  I 
shall  address  to  you  neither  reproaches  nor  exhortation.  What 
I  shall  say,  shall  be  said  in  the  faint  hope  that  a  few  words  from 
a  place  where  the  people  of  the  State  of  Illinois  have  delegated 
the  authority  to  declare  the  penalty  of  a  violation  of  their  laws, 
and  spoken  upon  an  occasion  solemn  and   awful   as  this,  may 


RISE  AND  FAT.L  OF  ANARCHY.  179 

come  to  the  knowledge  of  and  be  heeded  by  the  ignorant,  de- 
luded and  misguided  men  who  have  listened  to  your  counsels 
and  followed  your  advice.  I  say  in  the  faint  hope;  for  if  men 
are  persuaded  that  because  of  business  differences,  whether 
about  labor  or  anything  else,  they  may  destroy  property  and 
assault  and  beat  other  men,  and  kill  the  police,  if  they,  in  the 
discharge  of  their  duty,  interfere  to  preserve  the  peace,  there  is 
little  ground  to  hope  that  they  will  listen  to  any  warning.  It 
is  not  the  least  among  the  hardships  of  the  peaceable,  frugal  and 
laborious  poor  to  endure  the  tyranny  of  mobs,  who,  with  law- 
less force,  dictate  to  them,  under  penalty  of  peril  to  limb  and 
life,  where,  when  and  upon  what  terms  they  may  earn  a  liveli- 
hood for  themselves  and  their  families.  Any  government  that 
is  worthy  of  the  name  will  strenuously  endeavor  to  secure  to  all 
within  its  jurisdiction  freedom  to  follow  the  lawful  avocations 
and  safety  for  their  property  and  their  persons,  while  obeying 
the  law,  and  the  law  is  common  sense.  It  holds  each  man  re- 
sponsible for  the  natural  and  probable  consequences  of  his  own 
acts.  It  holds  that  whoever  advises  murder  is  himself  guilty 
of  the  murder  that  is  committed  pursuant  to  his  advice,  and  if 
men  band  together  for  a  forcible  resistance  to  the  execution  of 
the  law  and  advise  murder  as  a  means  of  making  such  resistance 
effectual,  whether  such  advice  be  to  one  man  to  murder  another, 
or  to  a  numerous  class  to  murder  men  of  another  class,  all  who 
are  so  banded  together  are  guilty  of  any  murder  that  is  com- 
mitted in  pursuance  of  such  advice.  The  people  of  this  coun- 
try love  their  institutions,  they  love  their  homes,  they  love  their 
property.  They  will  never  consent,  that  by  violence  and  mur- 
der, those  institutions  shall  be  broken  down,  their  homes  de- 
spoiled, and  their  property  destroyed.     And   the   people  are 


180  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

strong  enough  to  protect  and  sustain  their  institutions  and  to 
punish  all  offenders  against  their  laws ;  and  those  who  threaten 
danger  to  civil  society,  if  the  law  is  enforced,  are  leading  to  de- 
struction whoever  may  attempt  to  execute  such  threats.  The 
existing  order  of  society  can  be  changed  only  by  the  will  of  the 
majority.  Each  man  has  the  full  right  to  entertain  and  advo- 
cate by  speech  and  print  such  opinions  as  suits  himself,  and  the 
great  body  of  the  people  will  usually  care  little  what  he  says. 
But  if  he  proposes  murder  as  a  means  of  enforcing  he  puts  his 
own  life  at  stake.  And  no  clamor  about  free  speech  or  the  evils 
to  be  cured  or  the  wrongs  to  be  redressed,  will  shield  him  from 
the  consequences  of  his  crime.  His  liberty  is  not  a  license  to 
destroy.  The  toleration  that  he  enjoys  he  must  extend  to  oth- 
ers, and  not  arrogantly  assume  that  the  great  majority  are  wrong 
and  may  rightfully  be  coerced  by  terror,  or  removed  by  dyna- 
mite. It  only  remains  that  for  the  crime  you  have  committed, 
and  of  which  you  have  been  convicted  after  a  trial  unexampled 
in  the  patience  with  which  an  outraged  people  have  extended 
to  you  every  protection  and  privilege  of  the  law  which  you  de- 
rided and  defied,  that  the  sentence  of  that  law  be  now  given. 
In  form  and  detail  that  sentence  will  appear  upon  the  records 
of  the  Court.  In  substance  and  effect  it  is  that  the  defendant 
Neebe  be  imprisoned  in  the  State  Penitentiary  at  Joliet  at  hard 
labor  for  the  term  of  fifteen  years.  And  that  each  of  the  other 
defendants,  between  the  hours  of  ten  o'clock  in  the  forenoon 
and  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day  of  December 
next,  in  the  manner  provided  by  the  statute  of  this  state,  be 
hung  by  the  neck  until  he  is  dead.     Remove  the  prisoners." 

Stay  of  sentence  in  the  case  of  Neebe  was  granted  until  De- 
cember 3,  the  date  set  for  the  execution  of  the  other  principles ; 


MRS.  PARSONS. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  181 

and  the  counsel  for  the  condemned  Anarchists  announced  that 
they  should  file  a  bill  of  exceptions  before  the  Illinois  Supreme 
Court,  and  petition  for  a  supersedeas. 


CHAPTER  X. 

MISCELLANEOUS  MATTER.      ARBEITER  ZEITUNG.     MRS.  LUCY  PAKSONS. 

HER  ARREST  IN  OHIO.       HER  ARREST  IN  CHICAGO.       HERR  MOST 

ENDORSING  THE  BOMB-THROWING.         THE  PANIC  HE  COULD 

CREATE   IN    A    BIG    CITY  IN  THIRTY  MINUTES  WITH 

3000  BOMBS  IN  THE  HANDS  OF  500 

REVOLUTIONISTS. 

As  the  trial  progressed  many  new  and  sensational  develop- 
ments wTere  made.  Dr.  Ernst  Schmidt  was  constituted  chairman 
of  the  committee  of  an  organization,  taking  chaige  of  matters 
pertaining  to  raising  money  for  the  defense.  F.  Bielefeld  be- 
came business  manager  of  the  Arbeiter  Z&itwng.  In  all  the  im- 
portant cities  meetings  were  held  in  the  interests  of  the  con- 
demned men.  Mrs.  Lucy  Parsons,  wife  of  the  condemned 
anarchist,  went  on  a  lecturing  tour  to  replenish  the  exchequer 
of  the  defendants,  but  public  opinion  in  many  places  was  against 
her,  and  she  found  it  difficult  in  many  places  to  obtain  halls  in 
which  to  speak.  At  Akron,  Ohio,  she  was  arrested  for  holding 
a  meeting  in  defiance  of  the  order  of  the  mayor  of  that  city. 
She  has  for  years  been  an  active  anarchistic  agitator,  and  her 
proclivities  for  public  speech -making  has  brought  her  often  be- 
fore the  public.  She  was  arrested  September  23  for  a  violation 
of  the  ordinance  prohibiting  the  distribution  of  circulars  on  the 


182  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

street  of  Chicago.  In  New  York,  Herr  Most,  through  his  pa- 
per, the  Freiheit,  indorsed  the  bomb-throwing,  saying:  "Its 
work  was  thorough.  Such  bombs  can  be  made  by  anybody 
without  much  trouble,  of  an  evening.  Think  of  500  revolution- 
ists provided,  say,  each  with  six  of  these  things,  working  in  con- 
cert, so  that,  for  example,  in  the  wide  range  of  a  great  cosmo- 
politan city  within  half  an  hour  the  fragments  were  to  go  flying 
in  various  suitable  places,  who  will  gainsay  that  by  this  means 
such  a  panic  could  be  created  that  a  comparatively  small  num- 
ber of  determined  men  might  get  possession  of  all  commanding 
points  in  the  place  in  a  giffy  ?  Nobody.  The  bomb  in  Chicago 
was  legally  justified,  and,  in  a  military  sense,  excellent.  All 
honor  to  him  who  produced  and  made  use  of  it." 

For  this,  and  similar  incendiary  utterances,  Most  was  arrested 
and  sentenced  to  serve  a  year  in  Sing  Sing  prison.  He  was 
living  with  Lena  Fischer,  alias  Mary  Georges,  at  198  Allen 
street,  under  the  name  of  West,  and  when  captured  was  found 
in  hiding  under  the  woman's  bed.  The  woman  was  thought  to 
be  a  sister  of  Adolf  Fischer,  one  of  the  condemned  Chicago  an- 
archists, but  this  was  denied. 

MISS    NINA     VAN    ZANDT, 

who  has  constituted  herself  the  heroine  of  Anarchistic  no- 
toriety by  developing  a  tender  passion  for  the  notorious  Spies, 
is  a  young  lady  of  eighteen  years  of  age,  with  a  fine  form  and  a 
fair  share  of  personal  attractions;  neither  a  pronounced  blonde, 
nor  yet  a  brunette,  but  seemingly  occupying  the  middle  ground, 
between.  Nina  is  the  daughter  of  the  superintendant  of  the 
great  Kirk  soap  factory  of  Chicago,  and  the  heiress  apparent  to 
quite  a  fortune.     She  is  of  a  dashing  romantic  disposition;  fond 


X 


. 


****» 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  183 

of  flowers,  birds  and  dogs.  She  fell  a  victim  to  the  ardent 
glances  of  the  humorous  editor  as  the  sequence  of  having  made 
his  acquaintance  while  inserting  an  advertisement  in  the  Zeitung 
to  recover  her  lost  pug,  to  whom  she  was  much  attached. 
Through  the  efforts  of  Spies  she  recovered  her  pet  canine,  and 
while  performing  the  duty  of  expressing  her  gratitude  to  the 
editor  she  was  smitten,  and  yielded  passively  to  her  fate.  She 
became  so  infatuated  in  her  attachment  and  attentions  to  Spies 
that  in  February,  1887,  a  marriage  license  was  procured  for  the 
purpose  of  becoming  his  wife  in  the  jail,  but  the  sheri if  forbade 
the  ceremony  as  illegal  and  unprecedented.  It  was  then  de- 
termined that  the  ceremony  should  take  place  by  proxy.  Spies' 
brother  became  the  proxy,  and  the  ceremony  took  place  before 
Justice  Englehardt  in  the  town  of  Jefferson.  Justice  Engle- 
hardt  made  returns  of  the  marriage  to  the  county  clerk,  who  re- 
fused to  recognize  the  return,  pronouncing  the  ceremony  illegal- 
This  wife,  in  name  only,  was  placed  on  exhibition  in  wax  in  one 
of  the  dime  museums,  when  the  cheeky  manager  was  served 
with  an  injunction ;  but  this  young  would-be  wife  compromised 
the  matter,  it  is  thought,  on  condition  that  part  of  the  emmolu- 
ments  went  into  a  fund  for  the  benefit  of  her  condemned  lord. 

MRS.    OSCAR    NEEBE 

died  quite  suddenly  in  March,  1887.  Neebe,  under  guard  of 
Jailor  Folz,  visited  the  bedside  of  his  dying  wife  and  by  official 
clemency  remained  some  time  with  his  children,  and  everything 
was  done  for  the  condemned  men  that  could  be  done  in  the  name 
of  humanity  under  the  circumstances. 


184  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

SUPERSEDEAS    GRANTED.        UNITED    STATES  SUPREME  COURT'S  DECIS- 
ION  SUSTAINING    THE    ORIGINAL    VERDICT.       PARSONS'    LETTER 
TO    GOVENOR   OGLESBY.       LINGG    DEFIANT.       THEY    REFUSE 
TO   SIGN    A    PETITION    ASKING    FOR   EXECUTIVE  CLEM- 
ENCY.      THEIR    IMPERTINENT    LETTERS    TO  GOV- 
ERNOR OGLESBY. 

THE    SUPERSEDEAS    GRANTED. 

There  was  no  doubt  from  the  beginning  that  the  supersedeas 
asked  for  in  behalf  of  the  condemned  anarchists  would  be 
granted.  Capt.  W.  P.  Black  aud  Hon.  Leonard  Swett,  who  had 
been  retained  to  present  the  petition  and  make  the  argument  for 
a  new  trial,  met  Chief  Justice  Scott  at  Bloomington  by  appoint- 
ment, Nov.  25,  1886,  and  he  directed  the  writ  of  error  to  issue. 
The  only  thing  of  substance  which  Justice  Scott  said  at  the 
entering  of  the  order  was  to  call  attention  to  the  following  lan- 
guage in  Mooney  vs.  The  People,  CXI.  Illinois,  page  388  — 
an  opinion  by  the  full  court  : 

Recognizing  to  the  fullest  extent  the  rule  of  law  that  the 
jury  in  their  deliberations  are  judges  of  the  facts  and  the  weight 
of  the  evidence  in  criminal  cases,  yet  the  law  has  imposed  on 
the  court  the  solemn  and  responsible  duty  to  see  to  it  that  no 
injustice  is  done  by  hasty  action,  passion,  or  prejudice,  or  from 
any  other  cause  on  the  part  of  the  jury.  This  duty  the  court 
may  not  omit  in  any  case. 

It  is  almost  needless  to  state  that  the  anarchists  were  well 


RICHARD  OGLESBY 

Governor  of  Illinois. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  185 

pleased  with  their  temporary  reprieve,  and  opportunity  to  have 
their  able  counsel  argue  for  a  rehearing  of  their  case.  The 
arguments  were  finished  March  18,  1887,  before  the  Supreme 
Court  at  Ottawa,  States  Attorney  Grinnell  and  Attorney-general 
Hunt  appearing  for  the  State.  The  decision  was  rendered 
Wednesday,  September  14,  before  the  full  bench  of  Supreme 
justices,  being  read  by  Judge  Magruder,  of  Chicago.  It  will 
thus  be  seen  that  the  Supreme  Court  gave  the  questions  at  issue 
full  and  ample  consideration  during  a  period  of  nearly  six 
months.  The  court-room  was  crowded  by  an  expectant  throng, 
and  the  announcement  of  the  decision  was  foreshadowed  by 
impressive  solemnity.  In  a  condensed  review  like  this  it  would 
be  manifestly  impossible  to  give  a  decision  comprising  upwards 
of  60,000  words,  and  covering  every  point  and  detail  of  the 
case.  It  is  sufficient  to  state  that  the  decision  was  unauimous 
on  the  part  of  the  justices.  Even  Justice  Mulkey,  who  was 
thought  to  lean  toward  a  new  trial,  declared  that,  after  having 
fully  examined  the  record  and  given  the  questions  arising  on  it 
his  very  best  thought,  with  an  earnest  and  conscientious  desire 
to  faithfully  discharge  his  whole  duty,  he  was  fully  satisfied  that 
the  opinion  reached  vindicates  the  law  and  does  complete  jus- 
tice between  the  people  and  the  defendants,  fully  warranted  by 
the  law  and  evidence. 

Chief  Justice  Sheldon  made  the  following  announcement : 
"In  this  case  the  court  orders  that  the  sentence  of  the  Criminal 
Court  of  Cook  county  on  the  defendants  in  the  indictment  of 
August  Spies,  Michael  Schwab,  Samuel  Fielden,  Albert  R.  Par- 
sons, Adolph  Fischer,  George  Engel,  and  Louis  Lingg,  be  carried 
into  effect  by  the  sheriff  of  Cook  county  on  Friday,  November 


186  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

11   next,  between  the  hours  of  10  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  and  4 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  that  day." 

The  formal  order  for  the  execution  of  the  anarchists  was 
received  by  Sheriff  Matson,  of  Cook  county,  Monday,  September 
26.  The  guards  inside  and  patrol  outside  the  jail  had  been 
doubled  upon  receipt  of  the  news  that  the  Supreme  Court  had 
sustained  the  verdict.  Monday  night  Oscar  Neebe  was  quietly 
removed  from  the  jail  in  a  carriage  and  taken  to  Joliet  by  train 
by  Deputy  Sheriffs  Gleason  and- Spear,  Xeebe  being  hand- 
cuffed securely  to  the  latter  officer.  Neebe's  companions  and 
outside  sympathizers  did  not  know  of  his  removal.  Neebesaid 
to  a  reporter  of  the  News  that  he  had  abandoned  all  hope.  He 
said  he  would  rather  step  upon  the  gallows  with  his  companions 
than  to  go  to  prison ;  related  what  he  had  accomplished  for 
employees  of  Chicago  breweries  and  the  grocery  clerks,  in  get- 
ting their  hours  shortened  ;  was  unrepentant  of  his  part  in  the 
conspiracy,  and  said  :  "  What  I  have  done  I  would  do  again, 
and  the  time  will  come  when  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  about  to 
be  sacrificed  will  cry  aloud  for  vengeance,  and  that  cry  will  be 
heard,  aye,  and  that,  too,  before  many  years  elapse." 

EFFORTS   TO    SAVE    THE     ANARCHISTS    HAD    FAILED. 

Upon  receipt  of  the  news  of  the  affirmation  of  the  sentence 
by  the  Supreme  Court,  A.  R.  Parsons  sent  to  the  newspapers  an 
appeal,  "To  the  American  People,"  in  which  he  maintained  his 
innocence  ;  declared  that  his  speeches  were  lawful  ;  condemned 
the  evidence  of  detectives  ;  refused  executive  clemency,  con- 
cluding in  the  words  of  Patrick  Henry,  "  I  know  not  what  course 
others  may  take,  but  as  for  me,  give  me  liberty  or  give  me 
death." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  137 

A.  R.  Parsons's  open  letter  to  the  American  people  in  which 
he  justifies  his  actions,  maintains  his  innocence,  and  refuses 
executive  clemency,  ran  as  follows,  under  date  of  September  22, 
1887: 

"  To  the  American  People  —  Fellow  Citizens :  As  all  the 
world  knows,  I  have  been  convicted  and  sentenced  to  die  for  the 
crime  of  murder,  the  most  heinous  offense  that  can  be  com- 
mitted. Under  the  form  of  law  two  courts  —  viz:  the  Criminal 
and  Supreme  courts  of  the  State  of  Illinois  —  have  sentenced 
me  to  death  as  an  accessory  before  the  fact  to  the  murder  of 
Officer  Degan  on  May  1,  1886.  Nevertheless,  I  am  innocent  of 
the  crime  charged,  and  to  a  candid  and  unprejudiced  world  I 
submit  the  proof : 

parsons  maintains  his  innocence. 

"  In  the  decision  affirming  the  sentence  of  death  upon  me 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  Illinois  says  :  '  It  is  undis- 
puted that  the  bomb  was  thrown  that  caused  the  death  of 
Degan.  It  is  conceded  that  no  one  of  the  defendants  threw  the 
bomb  with  his  own  hands.  Plaintiffs  in  error  are  charged  with 
being  accessories  before  the  fact.1  If  I  did  not  throAV  the  bomb 
myself  it  becomes  necessary  to  prove  that  I  aided,  encouraged, 
and  advised  the  person  who  did  throw  it.  Is  that  fact  proved  I 
The  Supreme  Court  says  it  is.  The  record  says  it  is  not.  I 
appeal  to  the  American  people  to  judge  between  them. 

"The  Supreme  Court  quotes  articles  from  the  Alarm,  the 
paper  edited  by  me,  and  from  my  speeches  running  back  three 
years  before  the  Haymarket  tragedy  of  May  4,  1886.  Upon 
said  articles  and  speeches  the  court  affirms  my  sentence  of  death 
as  an  accessory.     The  court  says,  'The  articles  in  the  Alarm 


188  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

were  most  of  them  written  by  the  defendant  Parsons,  and  some 
of  them  by  the  defendant  Spies,'  and  then  proceeds  to  quote 
these  articles.  I  refer  to  the  record  to  prove  that  of  all  the 
articles  quoted  only  one  was  shown  to  have  been  written  by  me. 
I  wrote,  of  course,  a  great  many  articles  for  my  paper,  the 
Alarm,  but  the  record  will  show  that  only  one  of  these  many 
quoted  by  the  Supreme  Court  to  prove  my  guilt  as  an  accessory 
was  written  by  me.  This  article  aj>peared  in  the  Alarm  Decem- 
ber 6,  1884,  one  year  and  a  half  before  theHaymarket  meeting. 
As  to  Mr.  Spies,  the  record  will  show  that  during  the  three 
years  I  was  editor  of  the  Alarm  he  did  not  write  for  the  paper 
half  a  dozen  articles.  For  proof  as  to  this  I  appeal  to  the 
record. 

"  The  Alarm  was  a  labor  paper,  and,  as  is  well  known,  a 
labor  paper  is  conducted  as  a  medium  through  which  working 
people  can  make  known  their  grievances.  The  Alarm  was  no 
exception  to  this  rule.  I  not  only  did  not  write  '  most  of  the 
articles,'  but  wrote  comparatively  few  of  them.  This  the  record 
will  also  show. 

11  In  referring  to  my  Haymarket  speech  the  court  says : 
'  To  the  men  then  listening  to  him  he  had  addressed  the  incen- 
diary appeals  that  had  been  appearing  in  the  Alarm  for  two 
years.  The  court  then  quotes  the  incendiary  article  which  I 
did  write,  and  which  is  as  follows :  '  One  dynamite  bomb 
properly  placed  will  destroy  a  regiment  of  soldiers,  a  weapon 
easily  made,  and  carried  with  perfect  safety  in  the  pockets  of 
one's  clothing.1 " 

SIMPLY    A    QUOTATION    FROM     GENERAL    SHERIDAN. 

"The  record  will  show  by  referring  to  the  Alarm  that  this 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  189 

is  a  garbled  extract  taken  from  a  statement  made  by  Gen.  Philip 
Sheridan  in  his  annual  report  to  Congress.  It  was  simply  a 
reiteration  of  General  Sheridan's  statement  that  dynamite  was 
easily  made,  perfectly  safe  to  handle,  and  a  very  destructive 
weapon  of  warfare.  The  article  in  full  as  it  appeared  in  the 
Alarm  is  as  follows  :  '  Dynamite — The  protection  of  the  poor 
against  the  armies  of  the  rich — in  submitting  his  annual  report, 
November  10,  1884,  Gen.  Philip  Sheridan,  commander  of  the 
United  States  army,  says  :  "  This  nation  is  growing  so  rapidly 
that  there  are  signs  of  other  troubles,  which  I  hope  will  not  occur 
and  which  will  probably  not  come  upon  us  if  both  capital  and 
labor  will  only  be  conservative.  Still,  it  should  be  remembered, 
destructive  explosives  are  easily  made,  and  that  banks,  United 
States  sub-treasuries,  and  large  mercantile  houses  can  be  readily 
demolished  and  the  commerce  of  entire  cities  destroyed  by  an 
infuriated  people  with  means  carried  with  perfect  safety  to 
themselves  in  the  pockets  of  their  clothing.'  ' 

"The  editorial  comment  upon  the  above  as  it  appeared  in 
the  Alarm  is  as  follows  :  '  A  hint  to  the  wise  is  sufficient.  Of 
course  General  Sheridan  is  too  modest  to  tell  us  that  himself 
and  army  will  be  powerless  in  the  coming  revolution  between 
the  propertied  and  the  propertyless  classes.  Only  in  foreign 
wars  can  the  usual  weapons  of  warfare  be  used  to  any  advan- 
tage. One  dynamite  bomb  properly  placed  will  destroy  a 
regiment  of  soldiers ;  a  weapon  easily  made  and  carried  with 
perfect  safety  in  the  pockets  of  one's  clothing.  The  First  reg- 
iment may  as  wrell  disband,  for  if  it  should  ever  level  its  guns 
upon  the  workingmen  of  Chicago  it  can  be  totally  annihilated. 

"  Again  the  court  says:  '  He  (Parsons)  had  said  to  them 
(referring  to  the  people  assembled  at  the  Haymarket)  Saturday, 


190  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

April  24,  188(5,  just  ten  days  before  May  4,  in  the  Alarm  that 
had  appeared:  u  Workingmen,  to  arms!  War  to  the  palace, 
peace  to  the  cottage,  and  death  to  luxurious  idleness !  The 
wage  system  is  the  only  cause  of  the  world's  misery.  It  is 
supported  by  the  rich  classes,  and  to  destroy  it  they  must  be 
either  made  work  or  die.  One  pound  of  dynamite  is  better 
than  a  bushel  of  ballots  !  Make  your  demand  for  eight  hours 
with  weapons  in  your  hands  to  meet  the  capitalist  bloodhounds 
— police  and  militia — in  the  proper  manner.11  ' 

"The  record  will  show  that  this  article  was  not  written  by 
me,  but  was  published  as  a  news  item.  By  referring  to  the  col- 
umns of  the  Alarm  the  following  comment  appears,  attached  to 
the  above  article,  viz :  '  The  above  hand-bill  was  sent  to  us 
from  Indianapolis,  Inch,  having  been  posted  all  over  that  city 
last  week.  Our  correspondent  says  that  the  police  tore  them 
down  wherever  they  found  them.1 

"  The  court  continuing,  says :  '  At  the  close  of  another 
article  in  the  same  issue  he  said :  "  The  social  war  has  come, 
and  whoever  is  not  with  us  is  against  us.11 1  Assistant  State's 
Attorney  Walker  read  this  article  to  the  jury,  and  at  its  con- 
clusion stated  that  it  bore  my  initials  and  was  my  article.  It  is 
a  matter  within  the  knowledge  of  every  one  present  that  I  inter- 
rupted him  and  called  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  article 
did  not  bear  my  initials,  and  that  I  was  not  its  author.  Mr. 
Walker  coirected  his  mistake  to  the  jury. 

"  Now  these  are  the  three  articles  quoted  by  the  Supreme 
Court  as  proof  of  my  guilt  as  an  accessory  in  a  conspiracy  to 
murder  Officer  Degan.     The  record  will  prove  what  I  say. 

HIS    SPEECHES    WERE    ALL    RIGHT. 

"  Now  as  to  my  speeches — all  of  them,  with  one  exception 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  191 

purporting  to  be  my  utterances  at  the  Hayruarket,  are  given 
from  the  excited  imaginations  and  pre  verted  memories  of  news- 
paper reporters.  Mr.  English,  who  alone  took  shorthand  notes 
and  swore  to  their  correctness,  reports  me  as  saying .  '  It  is  time 
to  raise  a  note  of  warning.  There  is  nothing  in  the  eight- hour 
movement  to  excite  the  capitalist.  Don't  you  know  that  the 
militia  are  under  arms  and  a  gatling  gun  is  ready  to  mow  you 
down  ?  Was  this  Germany,  or  Russia,  or  Spain  \  [A  voice  : 
"  It  looks  like  it."]  Whenever  you  make  a  demand  for  eight 
hours'  pay  or  increase  of  pay  the  militia  and  the  deputy  sheriffs 
and  the  Pinkerton  men  are  called  out  and  you  are  shot  and  club- 
bed and  murdered  in  the  streets.  I  am  not  here  for  the  purpose 
of  exciting  anybody,  but  to  speak  out,  to  tell  the  facts  as  they 
exist  even  though  it  shall  cost  me  my  life  before  morning!' 
Mr.  English  continuing,  said  :  '  There  is  another  part  of  it  (the 
speech)  right  here  It  behooves  you,  as  you  love  your  wife  and 
children,  if  you  don't  want  to  see  them  perish  with  hunger, 
killed,  or  cut  down  like  dogs  on  the  street — Americans,  in  the 
interest  of  your  liberty  and  your  independence,  to  arms ;  arm 
yourselves ! ' 

"  This,  be  it  remembered,  is  a  garbled  extract,  and  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  record  that  Reporter  English  testified  that  he  was 
instructed  by  the  proprietor  of  his  paper  to  report  only  the 
inflammatory  portions  of  the  speeches  made  at  the  meeting. 

THE  MAYOR  HEARD  THE  SPEECH. 

"  Mayor  Harrison,  who  was  present  and  heard  this  speech, 
testified  before  the  jury  that  it  was  simply  'a  violent  and  political 
harangue  '  and  did  not  call  for  his  interference  as  a  peace  officer. 
The  speech  delivered  by  me   at  the  Haymarket,  and  which  I 


192  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

repeated  before  the  jury  is  a  matter  of  record  and  undisputed, 
and  I  challenge  any  one  to  show  therein  that  I  incited  any  one 
to  acts  of  violence.  The  extract  reported  by  Mr.  English,  when 
taken  in  connection  with  what  preceded  and  what  followed,  can* 
not  be  construed  by  the  wildest  imagination  as  incitement  to 
violence.  Extracts  from  three  other  speeches  alleged  to  have 
been  delivered  by  me  were  made  more  than  one  year  prior  to  May 
4,  1886,  are  given.  Two  of  these  speeches  were  reported  from 
the  memory  of  the  Pinkerton  detective  Johnson.  These  are  the 
speeches  quoted  by  the  court  as  proof  of  my  guilt  as  accessory 
to  the  murder  of  Degan.  Where,  then,  is  the  connection 
between  these  speeches  and  the  murder  of  Degan  ?  I  am  bold 
to  declare  that  such  connection  is  imperceptible  to  the  eye  of  a 
fair  and  unprejudiced  mind.  But  the  honorable  body,  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Illinois,  has  condemned  me  to  death  for 
speeches  I  never  made,  and  for  articles  I  never  wrote.  In  the 
affirmation  of  the  death  sentence  the  court  has  '  assumed,'  '  sup- 
posed,1 '  guessed  1  l  surmised/  and  '  presumed  '  that  I  can  and  did 
'so  and  so.'     This  the  record  fully  proves. 

"  The  court  says  :  '  Spies,  Schwab,  Parsons  and  Engel  were 
responsible  for  the  articles  written  and  published  by  them,  as 
above  shown;  Spies,  Schwab,  Fielden,  Parsons  and  Engel  were 
responsible  for  the  speeches  made  by  them  respectively,  and 
there  is  evidence  in  the  same  record  tending  to  show  that  the 
death  of  Degan  occurred  during  the  prosecution  of  a  co  ispiracy 
planned  by  the  members  of  the  international  groups  who  lead 
these  articles  and  heard  these  speeches.' 

OBJECTS    TO    THE    PINKERTON    MEN. 

"  Now,  I  defy  any  one  to  show  from  the  record  the  proof 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  193 

that  I  wrote  more  than  one  of  the  many  articles  alleged  to  have 
been  written  by  me.  Yet  the  Supreme  Court  says  that  I  wrote 
and  am  responsible  for  all  of  them.  Again — concerning  the 
alleged  speeches — they  were  reported  by  the  Pinkerton  detect- 
ive Johnson,  who  was,  as  the  record  shows,  employed  by  Lyman 
Gage,  president  of  the  First  National  Bank,  as  the  agent  of  the 
Citizens'  Association,  an  organization  composed  of  the  million- 
aire employers  of  Chicago. 

"  I  submit  to  a  candid  world  if  this  hired  spy  would  not 
make  false  reports  to  earn  blood-money.  Thus,  it  is  for 
speeches  I  did  not  make,  and  articles  I  did  not  write  1  am  sen- 
tenced to  die,  because  the  court  'assumes'  that  these  articles 
influenced  some  unknown  and  still  unidentified  person  to  throw 
the  bomb  that  killed  Degan.     Is  this  law?     Is  this  justice? 

"The  Supreme  Court,  in  affirming  the  sentence  of  death 
upon  me,  proceeds  to  give  further  reasons,  as  follows:  'Two 
circumstances  are  to  be  noted.  First,  it  can  hardly  be  said  that 
Parsons  was  absent  from  the  Haymarket  meeting  when  he  went 
to  Zepf's  Hall.  It  has  already  been  stated  that  the  latter  place 
was  only  a  few  steps  north  of  the  speakers'  wagon  and  in  sight 
from  it.  We  do  not  think  that  the  defendant  Parsons  could 
escape  his  share  of  the  responsibility  for  the  explosions  at  the 
Haymarket  because  he  stepped  into  a  neighboring  saloon  and 
looked  at  the  explosion  through  a  window.  While  lie  was 
speaking  men  stood  around  him  with  arms  in  their  hands.  Many 
of  these  were  members  of  the  armed  sections  of  the  interna- 
tional sirouos.  Among  them  were  men  who  belonged  to  the 
International  Rifles,  an  armed  organization  in  which  he  himself 
was  an  officer,  and  witli  which  he  had  been  drilling  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  events  then  transpiring.' 


194  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

"  The  records  of  the  trial  will  show  that  not  one  of  the  fore- 
going allegations  is  true.  The  facts  are  these :  Zepf's  Hall  is  on 
the  northeast  corner  of  Lake  and  Desplaines  streets,  just  one 
block  north  of  the  speakers'  wagon.  The  court  says  '  it  was  only 
a  few  steps  north  of  the  speakers1  wagon.1  The  court  says 
further  that  '  it  can  hardly  be  said  that  Parsons  was  absent  from 
the  Haymarket  meeting  when  he  was  at  Zepfs  Hall.1  If  this  is 
correct  logic,  then  I  was  at  two  different  places  a  block  apart  at 
the  same  instant.  Truly  the  day  of  miracles  has  not  yet  passed. 
Again,  the  record  will  show  that  I  did  not  k  step  into  a  neigh- 
boring saloon  and  look  at  the  explosion  through  a  window.1  It 
will  show  that  I  went  to  Zepf's  Hall,  one  block  distant,  and 
across  Lake  street,  accompanied  by  my  wife  and  another  lady, 
and  my  two  children  (a  girl  of  five  and  a  boy  of  seven  years  of 
age  ),  they  having  sat  upon  a  wagon  about  ten  feet  from  the 
speakers1  wagon  throughout  my  speech ;  that  it  looked  like  rain ; 
that  we  had  started  home  and  went  into  Zepfs  Hall  to  wait  for 
the  meeting  to  adjourn,  and  walked  home  in  company  with  a  lot 
of  friends  who  lived  in  that  direction.  Zepf's  building  is  on 
the  corner  and  opens  on  the  street  with  a  triangular  door  six 
feet  wide.  Myself  and  ladies  and  children  were  just  inside  the 
door.  Here,  while  waiting  for  our  friends  and  looking  toward 
the  meeting,  I  had  a  fair  view  of  the  explosion.  All  this  the 
record  will  show. 

ABOUT    THE  BOMB. 

"It  would  seem  that,  according  to  circumstances,  a  block  is 
at  one  time  '  a  few  steps  '  or  a  '  few  steps '  is  more  than  a  block, 
as  the  case  may  suit.  The  logical  as  well  as  the  imaginative 
faculties   of    the  Supreme  Court    are  further  illustrated  in  a 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  195 

most  striking  manner  by  the  credence  of  the  court  to  the  '  yarn ' 
of  a  'reporter/  who  testified  that  Spies  had  described  to  him  the 
Czar'  bomb,  and  the  men  who  were  to  use  them  as  follows. 
'He  spoke  of  a  body  of  tall,  strong  men  in  their  organization 
who  could  throw  bombs  weighing  five  pounds  151)  paces.  He 
stated  that  the  bombs  in  question  were  to  be  used  in  case  of 
conflict  with  the  police  or  the  militia.1 

"  The  court  gives  this  sort  of  testimony  as  proof  of  the  exist- 
ence of  a  conspiracy  to  murder  Degan.  Wonderful  credulity. 
To  throw  a  five-pound  bomb  150  paces  or  yards  is  to  throw  it 
450  feet  or  a  quarter  of  a  mile. 

"  Gulliver,  in  his  travels  among  the  Brobdingnag  race,  tells 
us  of  the  giants  he  met,  and  we  have  also  heard  of  the  giants 
of  Patagonia.  But  we  did  not  know  until  no  w  that  they  were 
mere  Lilliputians  as  compared  with  the  '  anarchist  Swedes '  of 
Chicago. 

"The  court  proceeds  to  say,  "While  he  (Parsons)  was 
speaking,  men  stood  around  him  with  arms  in  their  hands.1  The 
record  as  quoted  by  the  court  shows  that  only  one  man  flour- 
ished a  pistol,  not  a  number  of  men  Again,  the  court  says, 
'  Most  of  the  men  were  members  of  the  armed  sections  of  the 
"  International  groups,"  1  thus  making  it  appear  that  many  of 
these  men  (when  there  was  only  one  who  was  even  alleged  to 
have  exhibited  a  pistol)  were  armed. 

"  The  court  says  :  'Among  them  were  men  who  belonged  to 
the  "  International  Rifles,11  an  armed  organization  in  which  he 
himself  was  an  officer,  and  in  which  he  had  been  drilling  in 
preparation  for  the  events  then  transpiring.' 

"Now  I  Challenge  the  Supreme  Court  or  any  other  honor- 
able gentleman  to  Drove  from  the  record  that  there  ever  existed 


196  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

such  an  organization  as  the  armed  section  of  the  American 
group,  known  as  the  '  International  Rifles.'  It  cannot  be  done. 
The  record  shows  that  some  members  of  the  American  group 
did  organize  the  '  International  Rifles,1  which  never  met  but  four 
or  Ave  times;  was  never  armed  with  rifles  or  any  other  weapons, 
and  was  disbanded  nearly  a  year  before  the  4th  of  May,  1886. 

"  The  Pinkerton  man  Johnson  says  that  dynamite  bombs 
were  exhibited  'in  the  presence  of  the  "  International  Rifles/' ' 
It  will  take  corroborative  testimony  before  the  American  people 
will  credit  the  statements  of  such  a  man  engaged  for  such  a  pur 
pose;  and  it  is  well  known  that  Supreme  courts  have  decided 
that  the  testimony  of  detectives  should  be  taken  with  great 
caution. 

HE  APPEALS  TO  THE  PEOPLE. 

"  I  appeal  to  the  American  people,  to  their  love  of  justice 
and  fair  play.  I  submit  that  the  record  does  not  show  my  gilt 
of  the  crime  of  murder,  but  on  the  contrary  it  proves  my  inno- 
cence. 

"  Against  me  in  this  trial  all  the  rules  of  law  and  evidence 
have  been  reversed  in  that  I  have  been  held  as  guilty  until  I 
proved  my  innocence.  I  have  been  tried  ostensibly  for  murder, 
but  in  reality  for  anarchy.  I  have  been  proved  guilty  of  being 
an  anarchist  and  condemned  to  die  for  that  reason.  The  State's 
attorney  said  in  his  statement  before  the  court  and  jury  m  the 
beginning  of  the  trial:  'These  defendants  were  picked  out 
and  indicted  by  the  grand  jury.  They  are  no  more  guilty  than 
the  thousands  who  follow  them.  They  are  picked  out  because 
they  are  leaders.  Convict  them  and  our  society  is  safe,'  and  in  their 
last  appeal  to  the  jury  the  prosecution  said:     'Anarchy  is  on 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  197 

trial.  Hang  these  eight  men  and  save  our  institutions.  These 
are  the  leaders.  Make  examples  of  them.'  This  is  a  matter  of 
record. 

A    WORD    FOR    HIS    COMRADES. 

"  So  far  as  I  have  had  time  to  examine  the  records  I  find 
the  same  fabrication  and  perversion  of  testimony  against  all  my 
comrades  as  exists  against  myself.  I  therefore  again  appeal  to 
to  the  American  people  to  avert  the  crime  of  judicial  murder. 
And  this  appeal  I  have  faith  will  not  be  in  vain. 

"  My  ancestors  partook  of  all  the  hardships  incident  to  the 
establishment  of  this  Republic.  They  fought,  bled,  and  some 
of  them  died  that  the  Declaration  of  .Independence  might  live 
and  the  American  flag  might  wave  in  triumph  over  those  who 
claim  the  '  divine  right  of  kings  to  rule.1  Shall  the  flag  now, 
after  a  century's  triumph,  trail  in  the  mire  of  oppression  and 
protect  the  perpetration  of  outrages  and  oppressions  that  would 
put  the  older  despotisms  of  Europe  to  shame? 

"  Knowing  myself  innocent  of  crime  I  came  forward  and 
gave  myself  up  for  [trial.  I  felt  that  it  was  my  duty  to 
take  my  chances  with  the  rest  of  my  comrades.  I  sought  a  fair 
and  impartial  trial  before  a  jury  of  my  peers,  and  knew  that 
before  any  fair-minded  jury  I  could  with  little  difficulty  be 
cleared.  I  preferred  to  be  tried  and  take  the  chances  of  an 
acquittal  with  my  friends  to  being  hunted  as  a  felon.  Have  I 
had  a  fair  trial  ? 

PARSONS  REFUSES  EXECUTIVE  CLEMENCY. 

"  The  lovers  of  justice  and  fair  play  are  assiduously  engaged 
in  an  effort  to  thwart  the  consummation  of  judicial  murder  by 


198  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

a  commutation  of  sentence  to  prison.  I  speak  for  myself  alone 
when  I  say  that  for  this  I  thank  them  and  appreciate  their 
efforts.  But  I  am  an  innocent  man.  I  have  violated  no  law ;  I 
have  committed  no  offense  against  any  one's  rights.  I  am  sim- 
ply the  victim  of  the  malice  of  those  whose  anger  has  been 
aroused  by  the  growth,  strength  and  independence  of  the  labor 
organizations  of  America.  I  am  a  sacrifice  to  those  who  say: 
*  These  men  may  be  innocent.  No  matter.  They  are  anarchists. 
We  must  hang  them  anyway.' 

"  My  counsel  informs  me  that  every  effort  will  be  made  to 
take  this  case  before  the  highest  tribunal  in  the  land,  and  that 
there  is  strong  hope  of  a  hearing  there.  But  I  am  also  reliably 
informed  that  from  three  to  five  years  will  elapse  before  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  can  hear  and  adjudge  the 
case. 

"  Since  surrendering  myself  to  the  authorities,  I  have  been 
locked  up  in  close  confinement  twenty- one  hours  out  of  every 
twenty-four  for  six  days,  and  from  Saturday  afternoon  till  Mon- 
day morning  (thirty -eight  hours)  each  week  in  a  noisome  cell, 
without  a  ray  of  sunlight  or  a  breath  of  pure  air.  To  be  com- 
pelled to  bear  this  for  five  or  even  three  years  would  be  to 
suffer  a  lingering  death,  and  it  is  only  a  matter  of  serious  con- 
sideration with  me  whether  I  ought  to  accept  the  verdict  as  it 
stands  rather  than  die  by  inches  under  such  conditions.  I  am 
prepared  to  die.  I  am  ready,  if  needs  be,  to  lay  down  my  life 
for  my  rights  and  the  rights  of  my  fellow-men.  But  I  object 
to  being  killed  on  false  and  unproved  accusations.  Therefore 
I  cannot  countenance  or  accept  the  efforts  of  those  who  would 
endeavor  to  procure  a  commutation  of  my  sentence  to  an  impris- 
onment in    the  penitentiary.      Neither  do  I   approve  of   any 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  199 

further  appeals  to  the  courts  of  law.  I  believe  them  to  be  all 
alike — the  agency  of  the  privileged  classes  to  perpetuate  their 
power,  to  oppress  and  plunder  the  toiling  masses.  As  between 
capital  and  its  legal  rights,  and  labor  and  its  legal  rights,  the 
courts  of  law  must  side  with  the  capitalistic  class.  To  appeal 
to  them  is  in  vain.  It  is  the  appeal  of  the  wage  slave  to  his 
capitalistic  master  for  liberty.  The  answer  is  curses,  blows, 
imprisonment,  and  death. 

"  If  I  had  never  been  an  anarchist  before,  my  experience 
with  courts  and  the  laws  of  the  governing  class  would  make  an 
anarchist  of  me  now.  What  is  anarchy  ?  It  is  a  state  of  society 
without  any  central  or  governing  power.  Upon  this  subject  the 
court,  in  its  affirmation  of  the  death  sentence,  defines  the  object 
of  the  International  Working  Peoples1  Association  as  follows : 

"  '  It  is  designed  to  bring  about  a  social  revolution.  Social 
revolution  means  the  destruction  of  the  right  of  private  owner- 
ship of  property,  or  of  the  right  of  the  individual  to  own  prop- 
erty. It  means  of  the  bringing  about  of  a  state  of  society  in 
which  all  property  should  be  held  in  common.' 

HE    REFERS    TO    THE    SCRIPTURES. 

"  If  this  definition  is  right,  then  it  is  very  similar  to  that 
advocated  by  Jesus  Christ,  for  proof  of  which  I  refer  to  the 
fourth  and  fifth  chapters  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles ;  also 
Matthew  xxi.,  10  to  14,  and  Mark  xi.,  15  to  19. 

"  No,  I  am  not  guilty.  I  have  not  been  proved  guilty.  I 
leave  it  to  you  to  decide  from  the  record  itself  as  to  my  guilt  or 
innocence.  I  cannot,  therefore,  accept  a  commutation  to  impris- 
onment. I  appeal — not  for  mercy,  but  for  justice.  As  for  me, 
the  utterance  of  Patrick  Henry  is  so  appropos  that  I  cannot  do 
better  than  let  him  speak : 


200  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY 

"  '  Is  life  so  dear  and  peace  so  sweet  as  to  be  purchased  at 
the  price  of  chains  and  slavery  ?  Forbid  it,  Almighty  God  !  I 
know  not  what  course  others  may  take,  but,  as  for  me,  give  me 
liberty  or  give  me  death.7  A.  R.  Parsons, 

"Prison  Cell  29,  Chicago,  111.,  Sept.  21,  1887." 

THE  CASE  BEFORE  THE  P^EDERAL  SUPREME  COURT. 

The  anarchists  were  not  lacking  in  funds  to  secure  every 
chance  of  reprieve  or  commutation,  as  contributions  had  poured 
into  their  coffers  swelling  the  sum  total  over  $50,000.  Every 
opportunity  was  accorded  to  the  condemned  men  to  place  their 
case  in  as  favorable  a  light  as  possible  before  the  Federal  Court. 
But  the  flagrant  and  far-reaching  character  of  their  crime  gave 
little  hope  to  the  unbiased  that  the  judges  composing  that  hon- 
orable body  would  interfere.  Following  our  readers  will  find 
Attorney  Grinnell's  argument  before  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court.  Also  General  Butler's  defense  for  the  impenitent  yet 
doomed  men. 

GRINNELL's  ARGUMENT  BEFORE  THE  UNITED  STATES  SUPREME  COURT. 

Mr.  Grinnell,  addressing  the  court,  said  that  it  had  not  been 
his  intention  to  take  part  in  the  oral  argument,  and  that  he 
came  here  primarily  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  Mr.  Hunt  by 
means  of  his  familiarity  with  the  record  in  this  case.  He 
thought  that  by  the  presentation  of  the  law  and  the  facts  yes- 
terday it  was  clearly  shown  that  there  was  no  federal  question 
involved,  and  that  the  court  was  without  jurisdidtion  to  grant 
the  writ  of  error.  The  assignments  of  error  in  the  lower  court, 
and  the  parts  of  the  record  relating  to  the  jurors  Denker  and 
Sanford  had  been  printed  and  were  in  the  court's  hands.     In  all 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  201 

the  twenty- eight  assignments  of  error  there  was  no  reference 
directly  or  indirectly  to  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  or 
any  of  its  amendments.  There  were  some  things,  he  said,  which 
were  here  generally  conceded,  and  oue  of  them  was  that  the 
constitution  itself  confers  no  rights  which  need  be  here  consid- 
ered. It  is  simply  a  limitation  of  the  rights  of  the  legislative 
power  in  dealing  with  the  rights  of  citizens. 

THE    QUESTION    OF    JURISDICTION. 

The  constitution  of  the  State  of  Illinois  contains  almost  all 
the  provisions  which  are  embraced  in  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States.  This  court  had  settled,  he  believed,  the  question 
of  jurisdiction  as  far  as  the  first  ten  amendments  are  concerned, 
and  also,  he  thought,  under  the  fourteenth  amendment.  The 
only  clause  of  the  latter  which  could  figure  here  was  that  "  no 
State  shall  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or  property  with- 
out due  process  of  law."  Whatever  affects  liberty  and  life  is 
made  by  this  clause  to  affect  also  property.  If  the  court  has 
jurisdiction  of  this  case  under  this  provision  of  the  amendment 
then  every  State  question  relating  to  property,  such  as  special 
assessments,  the  condemnation  of  property,  etc.,  might  be 
brought  to  this  court  for  review. 

The  Chief  Justice — "  Because  they  take  property  without 
valuation  by  a  jury.11 

Mr.  Grinnell — "  Yes,  your  honor,  in  some  cases  they  do, 
especially  in  the  matter  of  drainage,  where  the  proceedings  may 
be  before  a  justice  of  the  peace.11 

PEREMPTORY    CHALLENGES. 

Mr.  Grinnell  said  he  thought  it  to  be  conceded  that  a  State 


202  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

Legislature  Lad  a  right  to  prescribe  how  many  peremptory  chal- 
lenges should  be  allowed  in  the  formation  of  a  jury.  The 
common  law  of  Illinois  had  been  radically  changed  in  this 
respect,  and  both  prosecution  and  defendant  now  stood  on  an 
equal  footing.  Each  defendant  was  entitled  to  twenty  peremp- 
tory challenges,  and  as  the  eight  defendants  in  this  case  acted 
in  concert  and  were  all  consulted,  each  of  them  had  practically 
160  peremptory  challenges.  The  State  had  a  like  number. 
The  defendants  exhausted  all  of  their  160  peremptory  chal- 
lenges before  a  jury  was  obtained  and  the  State  availed  itself  of 
its  priviledge  to  the  extent  of  fifty-two  challenges  He  main- 
tained, however,  that  no  federal  question  would  be  involved 
even  if  the  State  allowed  only  one  peremptory  challenge  to  one 
side  and  160  to  the  other.  It  was  the  State's  right.  In  this 
case  there  were  931  men  called  into  the  jury  box  and  examined 
in  order  to  obtain  twelve  jurors. 

JURORS    SANFORD    AND    DENKER. 

No  objection  was  raised  to  any  one  of  the  twelve  jurors 
with  the  single  exception  of  Sanford.  Denker  was  challenged 
for  cause  after  a  brief  examination ;  the  challenge  was  over- 
ruled and  the  defense  accepted,  but  they  then  proceeded  with  a 
further  and  more  elaborate  examination  of  him,  and  it  is  shown 
by  the  record  that  after  this  second  examination  they  desired  to 
keep  him,  that  they  did  keep  him,  and  that  they  did  make  no 
further  exception.  When  Denker  was  taken  the  defense  had 
left  142  peremptory  challenges  and  they  could  have  used  one  of 
these  challenges  to  get  rid  of  him  if  they  had  been  very  deirs- 
ous  of  so  doing.  They  had  forty-three  peremptory  challenges 
left  after  eleven   jurors  had  been   sworn.     These  forty-three 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  203 

challenges  they  frittered  away  frivolously  for  the  purpose  of 
taking  some  possible  advantage.  Their  peremptory  challenges 
were  then  exhausted,  and  they  had  to  either  take  a  juror  or 
show  cause  why  he  should  be  rejected. 

The  examination  of  Sanford,  the  last  juror,  clearly  demon- 
strated, Mr.  Grinnell  said,  that  the  defense  were  more  ready  to 
take  him  than  the  State  was.  Not  a  single  juror  was  put  upon 
the  defense  to  exhaust  their  peremptory  challenges.  Whenever 
a  man  said  that  he  had  talked  with  a  witness  or  any  one  who 
was  present  at  the  Haymarket  meeting,  or  that  he  had  attended 
the  coroner's  inquest  he  was  rejected  for  cause. 

EULOGIZMG    THE   JURY. 

Speaking  of  the  jury  as  a  whole,  Mr.  Grinnell  said:  "I 
wish  and  am  constrained  to  pay  one  tribute  to  that  jury.  It 
exemplified  American  citizenship  in  this  country  more  than  any 
jury  that  was  ever  looked  upon.  It  embraced  all  walks  of  life. 
Three  of  them  earned  their  living  by  manual  work.  They  came 
from  all  parts  of  the  country  and  one  of  them  was  born  on  for- 
eign soil.  They  were  not  a  class  jury.  They  were  honest 
citizens  with  the  solemn  duty  devolving  upon  them  of  determ- 
ining what  should  be  done  with  those  men.  No  judge  could 
look  in  the  faces  of  that  jury  without  saying:  '  They  are  intel- 
ligent ;  they  represent  American  citizenship ;  they  are  fit  to  be 
trusted  with  the  rights  of  freemen  under  our  constitution.' 
There  was  not  a  capitalist  on  that  jury.  They  were  all  com- 
mon-place small  dealers  and  intelligent  men." 

Mr.  Grinnell  said  he  would  challenge  any  one  to  show  that 
a  single  member  of  that  jury  was  not  a  competent  juror,  not 
only  under  the  jury  law  of  Illinois,  but  under  the  common  law. 


204  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

"  Congress,'1  he  said,  "  had  recognized  the  right  of  States  to 
make  their  own  jury  laws." 

Section  800  of  the  Revised  Statutes  provides  that  "  jurors 
to  serve  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States  in  each  State  respect- 
ively shall  have  the  the  same  qualifications  and  be  entitled  to 
the  same  exemptions  as  jurors  of  the  highest  court  of  law  in 
such  State  may  have  and  be  entitled  to  at  the  time  when  such 
jurors  for  service  in  the  courts  of  the  United  State  are  sum- 
moned.'1 

Almost  every  State  in  the  North,  he  said,  now  had  its  new 
jury  law,  and  these  laws  have  been  sustained  by  the  highest 

State  courts. 

-• 

THE  SEIZUEE  OF  SPIES1    PAPERS. 

Proceeding  to  the  question  of  "unreasonable  search  and 
seizure  "  in  Spies1  office,  he  said  it  did  not  strike  him  as  being 
any  part  of  this  case.  He  was  not  here  to  offer  any  apologies 
for  his  own  conduct.  He  then  recited  at  some  length  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  bomb-throwing  in  the  Haymarket,  the  search 
of  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung  office,  the  prying  open  of  Spies'  desk, 
the  finding  of  dynamite  and  letters  there,  the  breaking  open  of 
Lingg's  domicile,  and  the  finding  in  his  trunk  of  dynamite 
bombs  precisely  like  the  one  thrown.  Mr.  Grinnell  was  inter- 
rupted at  this  point  by  General  Butler,  who  said  he  should  want 
to  cross-examine  him  if  it  was  competent  for  him  to  do  so. 
Mr.  Grinnell — "  You  shall  have  that  privilege,  General." 
Mr.  Grinnell,  resuming,  said  that  such  seizure  wras  not  a 
thing  which  this  court  could  regulate.  It  had  said  in  the  Ker 
kidnaping  case  that  it  was  not  for  the  court  to  determine  how 
he  (the  prisoner)  got  here.     The  court  simply  said  :     "  You  are 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  205 

here.11  The  things  seized  in  the  search  of  these  prisoners1  prem- 
ises "  were  there,'1  and  it  was  for  the  court  to  determine  whether 
they  were  legally  there.  The  only  question  was,  "Are  these 
things  testimony?'1  and  that  was  not  an  inquiry  for  the  court. 

SIMPLY    EVIDENCE. 

Forgery,  murder,  and  other  crimes  had  to  be  proved,  Mr. 
Grinnell  said,  by  such  evidence.  "  The  pistol  found  in  the 
hand  of  the  assassin  Guiteau  was  forcibly  taken  from  him,  and 
his  papers,  if  I  remember  rightly,  were  overhauled.  They  were 
'there1  (that  is,  in  the  court),  and  it  was  nobody^  business 
how  they  got  there.  That  the  search  and  seizure  in  this  case 
was  an  unreasonable  search  and  seizure  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  defendants  I  have  no  doubt." 

In  conclusion  Mr.  Grinnell  said:  "It  strikes  us  from  our 
standpoint  that  the  foundation  of  the  constitution  is  less  likely 
to  be  impaired  by  refusing  to  grant  this  writ  than  by  grant- 
ing it.11 

THE    GENERAL^    INDIVIDUALITY. 

After  a  great  deal  of  rambling  talk  about  the  composition 
of  the  jury,  dissatisfaction  with  the  record,  lack  of  time  for 
preparation,  the  sentencing  of  the  prisoners  in  their  absence  and 
that  of  their  counsel,  the  injustice  done  them  by  "unreasonable 
search  and  seizure,11  etc.,  General  Butler  said  that  if  all  these 
things  could  be  done  the  question  was  to  be  debated  whether 
this  government  would  not  be  a  little  better  if  it  were  over- 
turned into  an  anarchy  than  if  it  were  to  be  carried  on  in  this 
fashion. 

"  I  have  no  fear,11  he   said,  "  of  being  misunderstood  upon 


206  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

this  question.  I  have  the  individuality  of  being  the  only  man 
in  the  Uuited  States  that  condemned  and  executed  men  for 
undertaking  to  overturn  the  law.  There  were  thousands  of 
them.  And  for  that  act,  please  your  honors,  a  price  was  set  on 
my  head  as  though  I  were  a  wolf,  and  $25,000  was  offered  to 
any  man  that  could  capture  me,  to  murder  me,  by  Jefferson 
Davis  and  his  associates,  and  who,  if  they  were  here  at  your 
bar,  trying  to  ascertain  whether  they  should  have  an  honest  and 
a  fair  trial  for  their  great  crimes,  and  they  called  upon  me — 
their  lives  in  danger — I  should  hold  it  to  be  my  duty  to  stand 
here  and  do  all  that  I  might  to  defend  them.  That  is  the  chiv- 
alry of  the  law,  if  I  understand  it,  and  if  I  don't  it  is  of  not 
much  consequence,  for  I  am  quite  easily  and  quickly  passing 
away.1' 

INHERENT    RIGHTS    OF    CITIZENS 

After  some  further  talk  General  Butler  said  he  agreed  fully 
that  the  first  ten  amendments  to  the  constitution  were  limita- 
tions of  federal  power  and  not  restrictions  of  the  rights  of  the 
States.  The  "  privileges  and  immunities  "  however,  claimed  by 
these  prisoners  were  privileges  inherent  in  each  one  of  the  citi- 
zens of  the  several  States  of  the  United  States,  because  in  vast 
majority  we  were  British  subjects  and  had  certain  privileges 
and  immunities  inherited  under  the  common  law  and  magna 
charta,  and  among  them,  and  the  most  thoroughly  known  and 
defined  were  the  trial  by  jury  for  all  high  crimes,  exemption 
from  search  and  seizure  without  warrant  of  law,  protection  from 
self- accusation  when  a  witness,  and  not  to  be  deprived  of  life, 
liberty,  or  property  without  due  process  of  law.  We  claim  that 
all  the  rights,  privileges,  and  immunities  that  belonged  to  a 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  207 

British  subject  under  magna  charta  belong  to  each  citizen  of  the 
United  States;  and  that  as  new  citizens  of  the  United  States 
were  made,  not  citizens  of  States,  by  naturalization,  these  rights, 
priviliges,  and  immunities  came  to  them  as  citizens  of  the 
United  States.  The  effect  of  the  fourteenth  amendment  was  to 
guarantee  these  rights,  privileges,  and  immunities  to  the  citi- 
zens of  all  the  States. 

MEANING    OF    "  DUE   PROCESS    OF    LAW." 

The  words  "  due  process  of  law  11  as  contained  in  the  four- 
teenth amendment,  and  as  used  to  define  one  of  these  guaran- 
teed rights,  mean  "  by  the  law  of  the  land,1'  not  the  law  of  a 
county,  a  province,  or  a  State,  but  the  law  of  the  country — the 
whole  country.  That  is  the  law  of  the  land,  and  was  so  under- 
stood by  our  forefathers  as  due  process  of  law.  Any  other 
meaning  given  to  "due  process  of  law  "  as  it  is  used  in  the  four- 
teenth amendment  would  make  it  simply  ridiculous  and  frivolous, 
because  any  State  may  enact  a  "  due  process  of  law  "  according 
to  that  State,  by  which"  a  man's  life  may  be  taken  and  from 
which  not  a  single  right  or  immunity  of  citizenship  can  protect 
him.  Any  law  a  State  may  make  after  the  passage  of  this 
amendment  for  dealinc;  with  the  rights  of  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States  becomes  wholly  inoperative,  because  the  "  law  of  the 
land  "  must  forever  remain  fixed  as  at  that  moment,  not  to  be 
changed  in  regard  to  its  citizens  without  a  change  of  organic 
law,  and  for  some  purposes  not  to  be  even  so  changed. 

THE    CASES    OF    FIELDEN    AND    SPIES. 

General  Butler  then  proceeded  to  a  consideration  of  the 
special  and  peculiar  questions  raised  by  the  cases  of  Fielden 


208  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

and  Spies  who  are  foreigners.  He  contended  that  treaties  were 
the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  and  that  these  prisoners  were 
entitled,  by  virtue  of  treaties  with  Germany  and  Great  Britain, 
to  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  American  citizens  at  the  time 
such  treaties  were  made.  A  State  had  no  power  to  try  these 
men  by  one  of  its  own  laws  which  was  not  the  law  of  the  land 
at  the  time  the  treaties  were  ratified.  He  did  not  mean,  he  said, 
that  a  foreigner  could  come  into  a  State  and  break  its  laws  with 
impunity  and  that  the  State  could  not  touch  him.  But  he  did 
mean  that  the  State  could  only  try  him  in  accordance  with  the 
law  of  the  land — the  whole  land — at  the  time  the  treaty  with 
his  government  was  made.  This,  he  said,  was  an  important 
question  to  every  American  citizen,  because  in  return  for  the 
concession  made  by  this  government  in  the  treaty  with  Great 
Britain  the  government  of  that  country  had  made  similar  con- 
cessions to  us.  Suppose  that  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
should  go  to  Ireland  and  should  make  some  remarks  about  the 
advantages  of  a  republican  form  of  government,  and  should  be 
arrested  and  tried  by  the  crimes  act  in  violation  of  the  treaty. 
Would  we  not  stand  up  and  say  that  this  man  must  be  tried  by 
a  fair  and  impartial  jury?  He  must  be  tried  as  an  Englishman 
would  have  been  tried  at  the  time  the  treaty  was  made,  and  he 
cannot  be  dealt  with  in  a  more  summary  way  under  a  later  law. 

GENERAL    BUTLER's    ARGUMENT. 

If  this  should  happen,  General  Butler  said,  he  hoped  that 
the  English  authorities  would  not  be  able  to  hold  up  to  him  a 
decision  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  sustaining  the 
light  to  try  an  Englishman  by  the  local  law  of  a  State  which 
was  nothing  but  a  swamp  and  a  howling  wilderness  at  the  time 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  209 

the  treaty  was  ratified. 

Returning  to  the  rights  of  States,  General  Butler  said  that 
he  was  not  prepared  to  deny  that  a  State  might  change  its 
organic  laws  with  the  consent  of  all  its  citizens,  but  such  change 
would  not  bind  a  citizen  of  another  State  who  had  not  assented 
to  them. 

IMPARTIAL    JURIES    AND    NEWSPAPER    LIES. 

After  some  desultory  remarks  about  the  record  and  the 
necessity  of  laying  it  before  the  court,  and  another  reference  to 
breaking  open  safes  and  desks,  General  Butler  said  :  "  There  is 
no  doubt  that  the  prisoners  were  entitled  to  a  trial  by  an  impar- 
tial jury — a  stupid  jury,  if  you  please — because  I  don't  think  a 
man  who  reads  newspapers  is  any  more  competent  to  try  a  case 
— rather  worse  if  he  pays  any  attention  to  their  lies.1'  As 
enunciated  by  chief  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  an  impartial 
juror,  he  said,  is  one  who  "stands  in  freedom  of  mind,  without 
bias  or  prejudice,  and  is  indifferent.1'  The  petitioners  were  not 
tried  by  such  a  jury  and  are  entitled  to  protection  under  the 
federal  constitution. 

"  If  "  he  said,  kt  the  court  is  to  give  me  jurors  as  prejudiced 
as  some  of  those  in  this  case  I  had  better  go  to  a  land  of  Hot- 
tentots, for  they  would  not  allow  me  to  be  stolen  and  taken  back 
into  Illinois."  General  Butler's  allusion  is  to  the  kidnaping  of 
Ker,  referred  to  by  counsel  on  the  other  side  in  defending  their 
search  and  seizure. 

In  reply  to  Mr.  Grinnell's  statement  that  the  records  would 
show  that  the  defense  were  more  ready  to  take  the  last  juror 
(Sanford)  than  the  State  was,  General  Butler  said  that  they  were 
compelled  to  accept  the  last  juror.     Their  peremptory  challenges 


210  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

were  exhausted  and  they  could  do  nothing  else.  Under  these 
circumstances  they  talked  to  him  and  coaxed  him,  and  tried  to 
get  him  into  a  state  of  mind  as  favorable  to  their  side  as  they 
could.  That  was  what  the  parts  of  the  record  referred  to  by 
Mr.  Grinnell  would  show,  and  nothing  more. 

NO  WAIVER  OF    RIGHTS  IN  CAPITAL  CASES. 

General  Butler  then  referred  to  the  assertion  of  counsel  on 
the  other  side  that  the  petitioners  had  waved  some  of  their 
rights  through  not  insisting  upon  them  by  exception  or  objec- 
tion at  the  proper  time,  and  that  therefore,  they  were  estopped 
from  asserting  these  rights  now  in  this  court.  He  contended, 
however,  that  when  a  man  was  on  trial  for  his  life  there  was  no 
such  thing  as  a  waiver  or  estoppal.  In  capital  offences  a  pris- 
oner cannot  waive  wittingly  or  unwittingly  anything  that  will 
affect  the  issue.  In  support  of  this  contention  he  cited  the 
opinion  of  Chief  Justice  Shaw  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Webster.  The 
prisoners,  he  maintained,  could  not  now  be  barred  out  because 
they  had  not  raised  sufficiently  formal  objections. 

General  Butler  then  returned  again  to  the  "  unreasonable 
searches  and  seizures  "  complained  of  by  the  petitioners,  and 
said  his  associate,  Mr.  Tucker,  had  characterized  the  proceeding 
as  a  "  subpoenas  duces  tecum,1'  executed  by  a  locksmith.  "  Why 
your  honors,''  he  exclaimed,  "they  searched  under  a  burglary, 
headed  by  the  State's  attorney  on  his  own  admission — no  miser- 
able policeman  or  half-witted  constable,  but  the  State's  prose- 
cuting attorney  does  the  burglary,  steals  the  papers,  and  says 
you  can't  help  that.  He  puts  it  with  a  sort  of  triumph,  and 
yet  we  are  told  that  our  immunities  and  privileges  are  not 
invaded,  and  our  remedy  is  to  sue  for  trespass.     What  a  beau- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  211 

tif ul  remedy  !  Sue  the  State's  attorney  and  be  tried  by  such  a 
jury  as  the  laws  of  Illinois  would  give.  Better  be  in  a  place 
not  to  be  named  for  comfort.'1 

PRISONERS    ABSENT    WHEN    SENTENCED. 

As  a  final  reason  why  the  writ  should  be  granted,  General 
Butler  urged  that  the  prisoners  had  been  sentenced  to  death  in 
their  absence,  and  without  being  asked  whether  they  had  any 
reason  to  give  why  sentence  of  death  should  not  be  pronounced 
upoD  them.  The  record,  he  said,  did  not  show  that  they  were 
absent  when  sentenced,  but  they  could  prove  it.  The  record 
showed  that  they  were  present,  but  they  could  prove  by  half 
Chicago  that  this  was  a  mistake. 

In  conclusion,  General  Butler  said :  '•  May  I,  in  closing, 
make  one  observation  ?  If  men's  lives  can  be  taken  in  this  way, 
as  you  have  seen  exhibited  here  to-day,  better  anarchy,  better 
be  without  law,  than  with  any  such  law."  General  Butler  then 
thanked  the  court  for  its  indulgence  and  took  his  seat. 

UNITED    STATES    SUPREME    COURT'S    DECISION    NOVEMBER  2,   1887 

Is  as  follows : 

The  court  holds  in  brief  :  First,  that  the  first  ten  amend  - 
ments  to  the  constitution  are  limitations  upon  federal  and  not 
upon  State  action  :  second,  that  the  jury  law  of  Illinois  is  upon 
its  face  valid  and  constitutional,  and  that  it  is  similar  in  its  pro- 
visions to  the  statute  of  Utah,  which  was  sustained  in  this  court 
in  the  case  of  Hopt  vs.  The  Territory  of  Utah;  third,  that  it 
does  not  appear  in  the  record  that  upon  the  evidence  the  trial 
court  should  have  declared  the  juror  Sanford  incompetent; 
fourth,  that  the  objection  to  the  admission  of  the  Johann  Most 


212  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

letter  and  the  cross-examination  of  Spies,  which  counsel  for  the 
prisoners  maintained  virtually  compelled  them  to  testify  against 
themselves,  were  not  objected  to  in  the  trial  court,  and  that 
therefore  no  foundation  was  laid  for  the  exercise  of  this  court's 
jurisdiction,  and  fifth,  that  the  questions  raised  by  General  But- 
ler in  the  cases  of  Spies  and  Fielden  upon  the  basis  of  their 
foreign  nationality  were  neither  raised  nor  decided  in  the  State 
courts,  and  therefore  cannot  be  considered. 

The  writ  of  error  prayed  for  was  consequently  denied. 

There  was  no  dissenting  opinion. 

The  above  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  received  by 
the  condemned  anarchists  with  coolness  amounting  to  indiffer- 
ence. A.  R.  Parsons  then  handed  the  copy  of  a  letter  sent  to 
Governor  Oglesby  to  the  Daily  Neivs  for  publication,  as  follows: 
"  To  His  Excellency  Richard  J.  Oglesby,  Governor  of  the  State 
of  Illinois— Dear  Sir:  I  am  aware  that  petitions  are  being 
signed  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  persons  addressed  to  you, 
beseeching  you  to  interpose  your  perogative  and  commute  the 
sentences  of  myself  and  comrades  from  death  to  imprisonment 
in  the  penitentiary.  You  are,  I  am  told  a  good  constitutional 
lawyer  and  a  sincere  man.  1  therefore  beg  of  you  to  examine 
the  record  of  the  trial,  and  then  conscientiously  decide  for  your- 
self as  to  my  guilt  or  innocence.  I  know  that  as  a  just  man 
you  will  decide  in  accordance  with  the  facts,  the  truth,  and  the 
justice  of  this  case.  But  I  write  to  reiterate  the  declaration 
made  in  my  published  appeal  to  the  people  of  America  Septem- 
ber 21,  1887.  I  am  guilty  or  I  am  innocent  of  the  charge  for 
which  I  have  been  condemned  to  die.  If  guilty,  then  I  prefer 
death  rather  than  to  go  '  like  the  quarry  slave  at  night  scourged 
to  his  dungeon.     If  innocent  then  I   am   entitled   to  and  will 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  213 

accept  nothing  less  than  liberty.  The  records  of  the  trial  made 
in  Judge  Gary's  court  prove  my  innocence  of  the  crime  of  mur- 
der. But  there  exists  a  conspiracy  to  judicially  murder  myself 
and  imprisoned  companions  in  the  name  and  by  virtue  of  the 
authority  of  the  State.  History  records  every  despotic,  arbi- 
trary deed  of  the  people's  rulers  as  having  been  done  in  the 
name  of  the  people,  even  to  the  destruction  of  the  liberties  of 
the  people. 

"  I  am  a  helpless  prisoner,  completely  in  the  power  of  the 
authorities,  but  I  strongly  protest  against  being  taken  from  my 
cell  and  carried  to  the  penitentiary  as  a  felon.  Therefore,  in 
the  name  of  the  people,  whose  liberty  is  being  destroyed ;  in 
the  name  of  peace  and  justice,  I  protest  against  the  consumma- 
tion of  this  judicial  murder,  this  proposed  strangulation  of 
freedom  on  American  soil.  I  speak  for  myself,  I  know  not 
what  course  others  may  pursue,  but  for  myself  I  reject  the  peti- 
tion for  my  imprisonment,  I  am  innocent,  and  I  say  to  you  that 
under  no  circumstances  will  I  accept  a  commutation  to  impris- 
onment. In  the  name  of  the  American  people  I  demand  my 
right — my  lawful,  constitutional,  natural,  inalienable  right  to 
liberty.     Respectfully  yours, 

"A.  R.  Parsons,  Prison  Cell  29." 

On  receipt  of  the  decision  of  the  Federal  Court  not  to 
interfere  in  the  anarchists  case,  the  doomed  men  were  sullen. 
Louis  Linger,  the  bomb -maker,  was  blatant  and  defiant,  and  said 
to  his  attendants,  "I  will  never  die  on  the  scaffold,11  he  contin- 
ued, "  I  hate  and  defy  you  all."  A  week  before  the  execution 
Lingg  said :  "  I  approach  my  last  moment  cheerfully,  but  I  will 
not  go  alone."'  This  was  significant  language,  and  no  doubt  was 
an  allusion  to  the  fact  that  he  intended  to  use  the  bombs,  after- 


214  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

wards  found  in  his  cell  for  the  purpose  of  producing  an  explos- 
ion in  the  jail  that  might  have  resulted  in  the  death  of  scores 
of  victims.  Lingg,  Engle,  Fischer  and  Parsons  refused  abso- 
lutely and  persistently  to  sign  any  petition  to  His  Excellency, 
Governor  Oglesby,  for  executive  clemency  in  the  commutation 
of  their  sentence  to  imprisonment.  The  following  is  a  copy  of 
letters  from  Lingg,  Engle  and  Fischer  to  Governor  Oglesby. 
They  demand  liberty  or  death  : 

Cook  County  Jail,  November  1. — An  open  letter  to  Mr.  R. 
J.  Oglesby,  Governor  of  the  State  of  Illinois. 

Dear  Sir:  I  am  aware  that  petitions  are  being  circulated 
and  signed  by  the  general  public,  asking  you  to  commute  the 
sentence  of  death  which  was  inflicted  upon  me  by  a  criminal 
court  of  this  State.  Anent  the  action  of  a  sympathizing  and 
well-meaning  portion  of  the  people,  I  solemnly  declare  that  it 
has  not  my  sanction.  As  a  man  of  honor,  as  a  man  of  con- 
science, and  as  a  man  of  principle,  I  cannot  accept  mercy.     I 

am  not  guilty  of  the  charge  in  the  indictment of  murder. 

I  am  no  murderer,  and  cannot  apologize  for  an  action  of  which 
I  know  I  am  innocent.  And  should  I  ask  "mercy  "  on  account 
of  my  principles,  which  I  honorably  believe  to  be  true  and 
noble  !  JVo  !  I  am  no  hypocrite,  and  have,  therefore,  no  excuses 
to  offer  with  regard  to  being  an  anarchist,  because  the  experi- 
ences of  the  past  eighteen  months  have  only  strengthened  my 
convictions.  The  question  is:  Am  I  responsible  for  the  death 
of  the  policemen  at  the  Hay  market?  and  I  say  no,  unless  you 
assent  that  every  abolitionist  could  have  been  responsible  for  the 
deeds  of  John  Brown.  Therefore  I  could  not  ask  or  accept 
"mercy11  without  lowering  myself  in  my  self-estimation.  If  I 
cannot  obtain  justice  from  the  authorities  and  be  restored  to  my 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  215 

family,  then  I  prefer  that  the  verdict  should  be  carried  out  as  it 
stands.  Every  informed  person  must,  I  should  think,  admit 
that  this  verdict  is  solely  due  to  class  hatred,  prejudice,  the 
inflaming  of  public  opinion  by  the  malicious  newspaper  frater- 
nity, and  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  privileged  classes  to  check 
the  progressive  labor  movement.  The  interested  parties,  of 
course,  deny  this,  but  it  is  nevertheless  true,  and  I  am  sure  that 
coming  ages  will  look  upon  our  trial,  conviction,  and  execution 
as  the  people  of  the  ninteenth  century  regard  the  barbarities  of 
past  generations — as  the  outcome  of  intolerance  and  prejudice 
against  advanced  ideas.  History  repeats  itself.  As  the  power- 
that  be  have  at  all  times  thought  that  they  could  stem  the 
progressive  tide  by  exterminating  a  few  "  kickers,11  so  do  the 
ruling  classes  of  to-day  imagine  that  they  can  put  a  stop  to  the 
movement  of  labor  emancipation  by  hanging  a  few  of  its  advo- 
cates Progress  in  its  victorious  march  has  had  to  overcome 
many  obstacles  which  seemed  invincible,  and  many  of  its  apos- 
tles have  died  the  death  of  martyrs.  The  obstacles  which  bar 
the  road  to  progress  to-day  seem  to  be  invincible,  too;  but  they 
will  be  overcome,  nevertheless.  At  all  times  when  the  condition 
of  society  had  become  such,  that  a  large  portion  of  the  people 
complained  of  the  existing  injustice,  the  ruling  classes  have 
denied  the  truth  of  these  complaints,  and  have  said  that  the  dis- 
content of  the  portion  of  the  people  in  question  was  due  only 
to  thtf  "  pernicious  influence  "  of  "  malicious  agitators.'1  To-day, 
again,  some  people  assert  that  the  k"  d  d  agitators  51  are  the 
cause  of  the  immense  dissatisfaction  among  the  working  peo- 
ple! Oh,  you  people  who  speak  thus,  can  you  not,  or  will  you 
not,  read  the  signs  of  the  time  \  Do  you  not  see  that  the  clouds 
on  the  social  firmament  are   thickening?      Are    you   not,  for 


216  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

instance,  aware  that  the  control  of  industry  and  the  means  of 
transportation,  etc.,  is  constantly  concentrating  in  fewer  hands; 
that  the  monopolists,  i.  e.,  the  sharks  among  the  capitalists, 
swallow  the  little  ones  among  them;  that  "  trusts,"  "pools,"  and 
other  combinations  are  being  formed  in  order  to  more  thor- 
oughly and  systematically  fleece  the  people;  that  under  the 
present  system  the  development  of  technic  and  machinery  is 
from  year  to  year  throwing  more  workingmen  on  the  wayside ; 
that  in  some  parts  of  this  great  and  fertile  land  a  majority  of 
the  farmers  are  obliged  to  mortgage  their  homes  in  order  to 
satisfy  the  greed  of  monstrous  corporations ;  that,  in  short,  the 
rich  are  constantly  growing  richer,  and  the  poor  poorer?  Yes? 
And  do  you  not  comprehend  that  all  these  evils  find  their  origin 
in  the  present  institution  of  society  which  allows  one  portion  of 
the  human  race  to  build  fortunes  upon  the  misfortunes  of  others; 
to  enslave  their  fellow  men?  Instead  of  trying  to  remedy 
these  evils,  and  instead  of  ascertaining  just  what  the  cause  of 
the  widening  dissatisfaction  is,  the  ruling  classes,  through  their 
mouth- pieces,  press,  pulpit,  etc. — defame  and  misrepresent  the 
character,  teachings,  and  motives  of  the  advocates  of  social 
reconstruction,  and  use  the  rifle  and  the  club  on  them,  and,  if 
opportunity  is  favorable,  send  them  to  the  gallows  and  prisons. 
Will  this  do  any  good?  As  an  answer  I  may  as  well  quote  the 
following  word«  with  which  Benjamin  Franklin  closed  his  satir- 
ical essay,  "  Rules  for  Reducing  a  Great  Empire  to  a  Small  One/ 
which  he  dedicated  to  the  English  government  in  177G.  "  Sup- 
pose all  their  (the  'kickers')  complaints  to  be  inverted,  and 
promoted  by  a  few  factious  demagogues,  whom  if  you  could 
catch  and  hang,  all  would  be  quiet.     Catch  and  hang  a  few 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  217 

accordingly  ;  and  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  shall  work  miracles 
in  favor  of  your  purpose  "  (i.  e.,  your  own  ruin). 

So,  I  say,  society  may  hang  a  number  of  disciples  of  progress 
who  have  disinterestedly  served  the  cause  of  the  sons  of  toil 
which  is  the  cause  of  humanity,  but  their  blood  will  work 
miracles  in  bringing  about  the  downfall  of  modem  society,  and 
in  hastening  the  birth  of  a  new  era  of  civilization.  Magna  est 
Veritas  et  prevalebet !  Adolpii  Fischer. 

A    LETTER    TO    GOVERNOR    OGLESBY. 

Dear  Sir — I,  George  Engel,  citizen  of  the  United  States  and 
of  Chicago,  and  condemned  to  death,'  learn  that  thousands  of 
citizens  petition  you  as  the  highest  executive  officer  of  the  State 
of  Illinois,  to  commute  my  sentence  from  death  to  imprisonment. 
I  protest  emphatically  against  this  on  the  following  grounds  : 
I  am  not  aware  of  having  violated  any  laws  of  this  country.  In 
my  firm  belief  in  the  constitution  which  the  founders  of  this 
republic  bequeathed  to  this  people  and  which  remains  unaltered, 
I  have  exercised  the  right  of  free  speech,  free  press,  free  thought 
and  free  assemblage,  as  guaranteed  by  the  constitution,  and  have 
criticised  the  existing  condition  of  society,  and  succored  my 
fellow-citizens  with  my  advice,  which  1  regard  as  the  right  of 
every  honest  citizen.  The  experience  which  1  have  had  in  this 
country,  during  the  fifteen  years  that  1  have  lived  here,  con- 
cerning the  ballot  and  the  administration  of  our  public  function- 
aries who  have  become  totally  corrupt,  have  eradicated  my 
belief  in  the  existence  of  equal  rights  of  poor  and  rich,  and  the 
action  of  the  public  officers,  police  and  militia  have  produced 
the  firm  belief  in  me  that  these  conditions  cannot  last  long.  In 
accordance  with  this  belief  I  have  taught  and  advised.     This  I 


218  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

have  done  in  good  faith  of  the  rights  which  are  guaranteed  by 
the  constitution,  and,  not  being  conscious  of  my  guilt,  the  "  pow- 
ers that  be "  may  murder  me,  but  they  cannot  legally  punish 
me.  I  protest  against  a  commutation  of  my  sentence  and 
demand  either  liberty  or  death.  I  renounce  any  kind  of  mercy. 
Respectfully,  George  Engel. 

AN    OPEN    LETTER. 

To  Mr.  R.  J.  Oglesby,  Governor  of  Illinois:  Anent  the 
fact  that  the  progressive  and  liberty -loving  portion  of  the  Amer- 
ican people  are  endeavoring  to  prevail  upon  you  to  interpose 
prerogative  in  my  case,  I  feel  impelled  to  declare,  with  my  friend 
and  comrade  Parsons,  that  I  demand  either  liberty  or  death.  If 
you  are  really  a  servant  of  the  people  according  to  the  consti- 
tution of  the  country,  then  you  will,  by  virtue  of  your  office 
unconditionally  release  me. 

Referring  to  the  general  and  inalienable  rights  of  men.  I 
have  called  upon  the  disinherited  and  oppressed  masses  to 
oppose  the  force  of  their  oppressors — exercised  by  armed 
enforcement  of  infamous  laws,  enacted  in  the  interest  of  capital 
— with  force,  in  order  to  attain  a  dignified  and  manly  existence 
by  securing  the  full  returns  of  their  labor.  This — and  only 
this — is  the  "  crime  "  which  was  proved  against  me,  notwith 
standing  the  employment  of  perjured  testimony  on  the  part  of 
the  State.  And  this  crime  is  guaranteed  not  only  as  a  right, 
but  as  a  duty,  by  the  American  constitution,  the  representative 
of  which  you  are  supposed  to  be  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  But 
if  you  are  not  the  representative  of  the  constitution,  like  the 
great  majority  of  officeholders,  a  mere  tool  of  the  monopolists 
or  a  specific  political   clique,  you  will   not   encroach  upon  the 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  219 

thrist  for  blood  displayed  by  the  executioner,  because  a  mere 
mitigation  of  the  verdict  would  be  cowardice,  and  a  proof  that 
the  ruling  classes  which  you  represent  are  themselves  abashed 
at  the  monstrosity  of  my  condemnation,  and  consequently,  of 
their  own  violation  of  the  most  sacred  rights  of  the  people. 

Your  decision  in  that  event  will  not  only  judge  me,  but  also 
yourself  and  those  whom  you  represent.     Judge  then  ! 

Cook  County  Jail,  30,  10,  '87.  Louis  Linng. 

P.  S. — In  order  to  be  sure  that  this  letter  will  come  to  your 
official  notice,  I  will  send  you  the  original  manuscript  as  a  reg- 
istered letter.  L.  L. 

CHAPTER  XII. 


FEELDEN    PENITENT.       HIS  LETTER  TO  THE  GOVERNOR.       SPIES     LAST 

LETTER    TO    HIS    EXCELLENCY.       WILLING    TO 

DIE    FOR    HIS    COMRADES. 

FIELDEN    SUES    FOR    MERCY. 

Fielden's  letter  is  as  follows : 

Chicago,  111.,  Nov.  5,  1887. — Ihe  Hon.  Richard  J.  Oglesby, 
Governor  State  of  Illinois — Sir  :  I  Samuel  Fielden,  a  prisoner 
under  sentence  of  death,  and  charged  with  complicity  in  the 
conspiracy  to  bring  about  the  Haymarket  massacre,  pray  your 
excellency  for  relief  from  the  death  sentence  and  respectfully 
beg  your  consideration  of  the  following  statement  of  facts  : 

"  I  was  born  in  England  in  humble  circumstances,  and  had 
little  early  education.  For  some  years  I  devoted  my  life  to 
religious  work,  being  an  authorized  lay  preacher  in  the  Metho- 
dist denomination.     I  came  to  this  country  and  settled  in  Chi- 


220  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

cago.  At  all  times  I  was  obedient  to  the  law  and  conducted 
myself  as  a  good  citizen.  I  was  a  teamster  and  worked  hard 
for  my  daily  bread.  My  personal  conduct  and  my  domestic  life 
were  beyond  reproach. 

4k  Some  three  years  or  more  ago  I  was  deeply  stirred  by  the 
condition  of  the  working  classes,  and  sought  to  do  what  I  cou>d 
for  their  betterment.  I  did  this  honestly,  and  with  no  sinister 
motive.  I  never  sought  any  personal  advantage  out  of  the 
agitation  in  which  I  was  engaged.  I  was  gifted,  as  I  was  flat- 
tered and  led  to  believe,  with  the  faculty  of  stirring  an  audience 
with  my  words,  and  it  was  said  that  I  was  eloquent.-  I  began 
delivering  addresses  to  assemblages  of  the  working  classes,  and 
spoke  of  their  wrongs  as  I  saw  them.  None  of  my  speeches 
were  prepared  nor  in  any  sense  studied,  and  often  they  were  born 
in  an  hour  of  intense  excitement.  It  is  true  that  I  have  said 
things  in  such  heat  that  in  calmer  moments  I  should  not  have 
said.  I  made  violent  speeches.  I  suggested  the  use  of  force  as 
a  means  for  righting  the  wrongs  which  seemed  to  me  to  be 
apparent. 

"  I  cannot  admit  that  I  used  all  of  the  words  imputed  to  me 
by  the  State,  nor  can  I  pretend  to  remember  the  actual  phrases 
I  did  utter.  I  am  conscious,  however,  as  I  have  said,  that  I  was 
frequently  aroused  to  a  pitch  of  excitement  which  made  me  in 
a  sense  irresponsible.  I  was  intoxicated  with  the  applause  of 
my  hearers,  and  the  more  violent  my  language  the  more 
ajiplause  I  received.  My  audience  and  myself  mutually  excited 
each  other.  I  think,  however,  it  is  true  that,  for  sensational  or 
other  purposes,  words  were  put  into  my  mouth  and  charged  to 
me  which  I  never  uttered ;  but,  whether  this  be  true  or  not,  I 
say  now  that   I  no  longer  believe  it  proper  that  any  class  of 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  221 

society  should  attempt  to  right  its  own  wrongs  by  violence.  I 
can  now  see  that  much  that  I  said  under  excitement  was  unwise, 
and  all  this  I  regret.  It  is  not  true,  however,  that  I  ever  con- 
sciously attempted  to  incite  any  man  to  the  commission  of  crime 
Although  I  do  admit  that  I  belonged  to  an  organization  which 
which  was  engaged  at  one  time  in  preparing  for  a  social  revolu- 
tion, I  was  not  engaged  in  any  conspiracy  to  manufacture 
or  throw  bombs.  I  never  owned  or  carried  a  revolver  in  my  life 
and  did  not  fire  one  at  the  Haymarket.  I  had  not  the  slighest 
idea  that  the  meeting  at  the  Haymarket  would  be  other  than  a 
peaceable  and  orderly  one,  such  as  I  had  often  addressed  in  this 
city,  and  was  utterly  astounded  at  its  bloody  outcome,  and  have 
always  felt  keenly  the  loss  of  life  and  suffering  there  occasioned. 
"  In  view  of  these  facts  I  respectfully  submit  that,  while  I 
confess  with  regret  the  use  of  extravagant  and  unjustifiable 
words,  I  am  not  a  murderer.  I  never  had  any  murderous  intent, 
and  I  humbly  pray  relief  from  the  murderer's  doom.  That 
these  statements  are  true  I  do  again  solemnly  affirm  by  every 
tie  that  I  hold  sacred,  and  I  hope  that  your  excellency  will  give 
a  considerate  hearing  to  the  merits  of  my  case,  and  also  to  those 
of  my  imprisoned  companions  who  have  been  sentenced  with  me. 
"  I  remain,  very  respectfully,  S.  Fielden.'1 

The  above  letter  to  the  Governor  by  Samuel  Fielden  was 
endorsed  by  Judge  Gary  and  States  Attorney  Grinnell. 

SPIES'    LAST    LETTER    TO    THE   GOVERNOR. 

"  Chicago,  111.,  Nov.  6. —  Gov.  Oglesby,  Springfield,  III. — Sir: 
The  fact  that  some  of  us  have  appealed  to  you  for  justice — 
under  the  pardoning  prerogative — while  others  have  not,  should 
not  enter  into  consideration  in  the  decision  of  our  case.     Some 


222  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

of  my  friends  have  asked  you  for  an  absolute  pardon.  They 
feel  the  injustice  done  them  so  intensely  that  they  cannot  con- 
ciliate the  idea  of  a  commutation  of  sentence  with  the  conscious- 
ness of  innocence.  The  others  (among  them  myself),  while 
possessed  of  the  same  feeling  of  indignation,  can  perhaps  more 
calmly  and  dispassionately  look  upon  the  matter  as  it  stands. 
They  do  not  disregard  the  fact  that  through  a  systematic  course 
of  lying,  perverting,  distorting,  inventing,  slandering,  the  press 
has  succeeded  in  creating  a  sentiment  of  bitterness  and  hatred 
among  a  great  portion  of  the  populace  that  one  man,  no  matter 
how  powerful,  how  courageous,  and  just  he  be,  cannot  possibly 
overcome.  They  hold  that  to  overcome  that  sentiment  or  the 
influence  thereof  would  almost  be  a  physiological  impossibility. 
Not  wishing,  therefore,  to  place  your  excellency  in  a  still  more 
embarrassing  position  between  the  blind  fanaticism  or  a  misin- 
formed public  on  one  hand  and  justice  on  the  other  they  con- 
cluded to  submit  their  case  to  you  unconditionally. 

WILLING    TO    DIE    FOR    HIS    COMRADES. 

I  implore  you  not  to  let  this  difference  of  action  have  any 
weight  with  you  in  determining  our  fate.  During  our  trial  the 
desire  of  the  prosecutor  to  slaughter  me,  and  to  let  my  co-de- 
fendants off  with  milder  punishment  was  quite  apparent  and 
manifest.  It  seemed  to  me  then,  and  a  great  many  of  others, 
that  the  persecutors  would  be  satisfied  with  one  life — namely, 
mine.  Grinnell,  in  his  argument,  intimated  this  very  plainly. 
I  care  not  to  protest  my  innocence  of  any  crime,  and  of  the  one 
I  am  accused  of  in  particular.  I  have  done  that  and  leave  the 
rest  to  the  judgment  of  history.  But  to  you  I  wish  to  address 
myself  now  as  the  alleged  arch-conspirator   (leaving  the  fact 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  223 

that  I  never  have  belonged  to  any  kind  of  a  conspiracy  out  of 
the  question  altogether).  If  a  sacrifice  of  life  there  must  be, 
will  not  my  life  suffice  ?  The  State's  attorney  of  Cook  county 
asked  for  no  more.  Take  this,  then  !  Take  my  life  !  I  offer  it 
to  you  so  that  you  may  satisfy  the  fury  of  a  semi- barbaric  mob, 
and  save  that  of  my  comrades.  I  know  that  every  one  of  my 
comrades  is  as  willing  to  die,  and  perhaps  more  so  than  I  am. 
It  is  not  for  their  sake  that  I  make  this  offer,  but  in  the  name  of 
humanity  and  progress,  in  the  interest  of  a  peaceable — if  possi- 
ble— development  of  the  social  forces  that  are  destined  to  lift 
our  race  upon  a  higher  and  better  plane  of  civilization  In  the 
name  of  the  traditions  of  our  country  I  beg  you  to  prevent  a 
seven-fold  murder  upon  men  whose  only  crime  is  that  they  are 
idealists,  that  they  long  for  a  better  future  for  all  If  legal 
murder  there  must  be,  let  one,  let  mine,  suffice. 

"  A.  Spies/1 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

LINGO  SUICIDES.       DR.  BOLTON  WITH  THE  PRISONERS.       THEY  DECLINE 
SPIRITUAL  COMFORT.       THE  LAST  NIGHT  OF  THE  DOOMED 
MEN.       PARSONS  SINGS  IN  HIS  CELL.       TELE- 
GRAMS FOR  PARSONS.       HIS 
LAST  LETTER. 

LINGG    COMMITS    SUICIDE. 

His  Excellency,  the  Governor  of  Illinois,  took  action  in  the 
anarchists'  case  on  November  10,  commuting  to  imprisonment 
for  life  the  sentence  of  Samuel  Fielden  and  Michael  Schwab, 
sending  the  death  warrant  of  the  remaining  four  to  Sheriff  Mat- 
son  by  his  son,  Robert  Oglesby,  who  arrived  early  on  the  morn- 


224  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

ing  of  the  11th  of  November.  Prior  to  the  Governor  making 
known  his  decision,  Louis  Lingg  anticipating  what  his  fate 
would  be,  and  in  keeping  with  his  threat,  had  by  some  process 
unknown  to  the  keepers,  secured  a  fulminating  cap  such  as  is 
used  in  exploding  dynamite,  which  he  coolly  placed  in  his  mouth, 
and  igniting  the  fuse  which  protruded  from  his  mouth  a  short 
distance,  calmly  awaited  the  end.  A  terrific  report  sounded  in 
the  jail  about  9  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  day  previous  to 
the  day  set  for  the  execution.  The  deputies  hastened  in  the 
direction  of  the  sound  of  the  explosion  and  beheld  clouds  of 
bluish -white  smoke  curling  out  from  between  the  bars  of  the 
door  of  Lingg's  cell.  On  entering  the  cell  Lingg  was  lying 
upon  his  face.  On  turning  him  over  he  presented  a  ghastly 
sight,  the  entire  lower  jaw  was  blown  away,  and  the  features 
mutilated  beyond  recognition,  only  the  stump  of  his  tongue  was 
remaining,  which  fell  back  into  the  larynx  and  made  respiration 
difficult.  He  died  in  great  agony  at  2:45  of  the  same  day.  He 
had  eluded  the  disgrace  of  the  hangman's  noose  and  the  igno- 
miny of  a  public  execution. 

During  the  ensuing  night  the  gallows  was  erected  in  the 
north  corridor  of  the  jail,  and  tested  by  heavy  bags  of  sand  to 
make  sure  that  everything  was  in  working  order. 

THE   CONDEMNED   MEN'S  LAST  NIGHT. 

SPIES   AND   DR.    BOLTON. 

THE  EX-EDITOR  OF  THE  "  ARBEITER  ZEITUNG  "    REFUSES  THE  MINIS- 
TER'S   SYMPATHY. 

Not  long  after  the  death  watch  had  been  set  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Bolton,  pastor  of  the  First  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  called 


5!^FHpr~^~~""'  ~~~~ 


I  !■■ 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  225 

upon  the  prisoners.  The  reverend  gentleman  visited  the  whole 
four  unfortunates,  and  his  reception  was  almost  the  same  in  every 
case. 

Spies  received  him  quietly  and  with  a  smile.  "  I  have  called 
on  you,  Mr.  Spies,"  said  the  clergyman,  "  to  help  you  to  prepare 
for  the  awful  end  which  is  now  but  a  few  short  hours  away.1' 

Spies  smiled  again,  but  shook  his  head  slowly.  "  There  is  no 
use  praying  for  me,11  he  said  in  a  meloncholy  tone ;  "  I  need  them 
not;  you  should  reserve  your  prayers  for  those  who  need  them.11 

The  two  men  then  discussed  matters  of  religion  and  social 
economy,  and  Spies  waxed  warm  in  his  defense  of  the  doctrines 
of  socialism  as  it  looked  to  him.  The  conversation  was  a  long 
and  somewhat  rambling  one,  and  finally  Mr.  Bolton  arose,  bade 
Spies  adieu,  and  left  him. 

When  he  had  gone  the  latter  turned  to  the  two  deputies 
(Quirk  and  Josephson)  who  kept  watch  over  him,  and  with  a 
short  laugh  exclaimed:  "  Now,  what  can  you  do  with  men  like 
that  ?  One  doesn^  like  to  insult  them,  and  yet  one  finds  it  hard 
to  endure  their  unlooked-for  attentions.1' 

Spies  then  waxed  talkative  and  aired  his  opinion  freely  to 
his  death  watch,  Deputy  John  B.  Hartke.  Speaking  of  the 
anarchists1  trial,  he  said  that  its  conduct  and  the  finding  were 
without  precedence  in  the  history  of  this  country. 

"  Why,  don't  you  know,11  said  he,  "  that  when  the  jury 
brought  in  the  verdict  they  were  all  so  badly  frightened  that 
they  trembled,  and  the  judge  himself,  when  he  pronounced  the 
sentence,  shook  like  a  leaf." 

This,  he  said,  looked  bad. 

"  The  anarchists  had  no  reason  to  be  afraid,  but  the  judge 
and  the  jury  had  good  reason  to  be  afraid.11 


226  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

"  I  told  him,11  said  Deputy  Hartke,  "that  I  had  heard  that 
Fischer  had  signed  a  petition  to  the  Governor  asking  for  mercy, 
and  added  that  I  had  heard  he  had  done  the  same  thing.'1 

"  That  is  not  true,"  he  responded.  "  I  said  in  my  letter  to 
the  Governor  that  if  one  was  to  be  murdered,  I  was  the  one. 
That  is  the  kind  of  a  document  I  signed." 

"Ill  tell  you,"  he  continued,  "in  five  or  six  years  from  now 
the  people  will  see  the  error  of  hanging  us,  if  they  do  not  see 
it  sooner." 

With  this  Spies,  wTho  had  been  lying  on  his  back  with  his 
hands  above  his  head,  removed  them  and  turned  on  his  side  with 
his  face  to  the  wall. 

The  anarchist  editor  then  lay  down  on  the  bed,  and  with  his 
white  face  uj:)turned,  talked  continuously  with  Deputy  Hartke 
about  mutual  acquaintances  and  things  and  events  of  days  gone 
by.  He  never  referred  to  to-morrow,  and  seemed  desirious  of 
keeping  the  thoughts  of  his  approaching  execution  as  far  as 
possible  from  his  mind. 

Engel  grew  a  little  more  serious  as  the  night  wore  on,  and 
when  he  came  to  be  more  familiar  with  the  death  watch  (Depu- 
ties Bombgarten  and  Hastige)  he  talked  with  them  about  the 
cause  for  which  he  was  about  to  die.  He  protested  his  inno- 
cence over  and  over  again,  and  told  the  story  of  the  Haymarket 
riot,  and  all  he  knew  of  it. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Bolton  called  on  Engel  as  he  did  on  the  others, 
but  with  the  same  unsatisfactory  result.  The  wretched  Engel 
dwelt  with  bitter  emphasis  upon  the  fact  that  it  was  the  informer 
AValler,  who  afterward  swore  his  life  away,  that  first  informed 
him  of  the  massacre.  "I  was  drinking  beer  and  playing  cards 
with  my  neighbors  when  Waller  called  and  taunted  me  with  not 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  227 

being  down  in  the  Haymarket  fight,11  said  Engel,  as  a  big  lump 
seemed  to  rise  in  his  throat,"  iv  and  he  afterward  swore  my  life 
away,  but  I  die  for  a  just  cause.11  Engel  slept  none  until  about 
1  o'clock,  but  at  that  hour,  just  as  the  death  watch  was  being 
removed,  he  turned  round  in  his  couch  and  dropped  into  a  light 
slumber. 

FISCHER   AND   PARSONS. 

BOTH     REFUSE     SPIRITUAL    COMFORT     AND     PARSONS     SINGS    "  ANNIE 

LAURIE." 

Fischer's  last  night  was  quietly  spent.  He  talked  but  little, 
but  was  restless.  His  death  watch.  Deputies  Healy  and  Shom- 
berg,  said  though  he  did  not  sleep  much,  he  appeared  to  take 
the  terrible  ordeal  put  upon  him  with  great  composure — almost 
indifference.  He,  too,  coldly  repulsed  Dr.  Bolton's  proffered 
spiritual  aid.  Though  his  sleepless  eyes  stared  vacantly  at  the  wall 
of  his  cell,  he  talked  but  little.  No  sign  of  nervousness  or  fear 
could  be  traced  on  the  hard,  clear-cut  features.  He  was  evi- 
dently prepared  to  meet  his  fate  unflinchingly  and  to  die  boldly. 
"Annie  Laurie,'1  sung  in  a  fairly  good  tenor  voice,  broke  the 
the  silence.  It  was  approaching  12  o'clock.  A  dread  silence 
overhung  all.  All  along  the  anarchists1  corridor  not  a  sound 
was  to  be  heard.  The  absence  of  any  noise  might  be  likened  to 
the  stillness  of  the  grave.  Criminals  were  asleep.  The  indi- 
cations were  that  the  anarchists  were  asleep  too. 

But  hardly  so.  Parsons  was  awake,  and  the  spirit  of  his 
wakeful  hours  urged  him  to  sing  "Annie  Laurie.'1  Soldiers  in 
a  foreign  clime  have  shed  tears  at  the  strains  of  this  song.  It  is 
a  passport  to  the  emotions  the  world  wide.     And  almost  within 


228  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

the  shadow  of  the  gallows  tree,  when  life  was  to  be  registered 
by  hours,  Parsons'  striking  up  this  song  seemed  certainly  sug- 
gestive of  the  fate  he  felt  to  be  close  at  hand.  There  was  in 
his  tone  a  lonesome  melancholy  as  he  sung  the  first  stauza,  then 
on  the  second  one  his  voice  wavered  and  finally  broke.  He  was 
cast  down.  The  memory  of  his  wife  and  little  ones  seemed  to 
rise  before  him,  a  sob,  full  of  pathetic  despair  served  as  a  period 
to  his  further  recitation.  Once  stopped  singing,  Parsons  was  in 
tears.  He  cried  within  the  quietness  of  his  cell,  not  through 
fear  of  his  approaching  death,  so  far  as  his  demeanor  indicated. 
Rather  it  was  due  to  recollection  busy  with  scenes  of  the  man's 
early  life.  His  boyhood  came  back  to  him  as  he  sung  that  old 
song.     He  could  not  do  else  than  break  down. 

When  Dr.  Bolton  called  upon  Parsons  he  was  received  with 
the  same  courtesy  which  has  always  distinguished  that  erudite 
anarchist.  The  condemned  man,  however,  did  not  seem  to  take 
kindly  to  the  proffered  ministrations  of  the  clergyman. 

u  You  are  welcome,  Dr.  Bolton,"  he  said;  "  pray,  what  can  I 
do  for  you?" 

The  reverend  visitor  explained  his  mission,  and  the  old 
cynical  expression  stole  over  Parsons1  face.  "  Preachers  are  all 
Pharisees,"  he  sneered,  "and  you  know  what  Jesus  Christ's 
opinion  of  the  Pharisees  was.  He  called  them  a  generation  of 
vipers,  and  likened  them  to  whited  sepulchers.  I  don't  desire  to 
have  anything  to  do  with  either." 

Dr.  Bolton  remonstrated  a  little,  and  finally  Parsons  appeared 
to  be  relenting  somewhat. 

"  Well,  well,"  he  said,  "  I  will  say  that  while  I  do  not  abso- 
lutely refuse  your  kind  attentions,  I  will  impress  on  you  the 
fact  that  I  did  not  want  you." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  229 

A  desultory  conversation  ensued,  and  the  missionary,  on  leav- 
ing, told  Parsons  that  he  would  pray  earnestly  for  him  during 
the  night. 

The  anarchist's  hard  gray  eye  grew  moist,  and  he  mannered 
hoarsely:  "Thank  you,"  but  added:  "Don't  forget,  though, 
I  didn't  send  for  you." 

SINGING  THE  MARSELLAISE. 

PARSONS  TALKS  FREELY  TO  THE  DEATH  WATCH  AND  SINGS  FOR  THEM. 

Parsons  slept  little  but  kept  heart  marvelously  well.     He 
chatted  with  the  guards  on  the  death  watch  and  furnished  them 
each  with  his  autograph  in  this  form  : 
"  Cook  County  Jail, 

"  Cell  No.  4. 

"  A.R.  Parsons. 

"Nov.  11,  1887." 

With  Bailiffs  Rooney  and  Jones  he  calmly  discussed  the  out 
look,  touched  without  emotion  upon  his  pending  death,  and 
dwelt  with  satisfaction  upon  his  assurance  of  his  wife's  ability 
to  maintain  herself.  When  told  by  the  guards  that  Spies  was 
deeply  affected  by  the  parting  with  his  wife  and  complained  that 
of  all  the  incidents  of  the  unnerving  time,  it  most  deeply  moved 
him;  that  Fischer,  though  reckless  of  himself,  bemoaned  the 
destitution  of  his  young  and  feeble  wife,  Parsons  feebly 
expressed  his  sympathy  for  his  companions  and  rejoiced  that  he 
left  behind  a  lion-hearted  wife,  and  children  too  young  to 
keenly  feel  bereavement.  Then  he  commented  upon  social  con- 
ditions both  here  and  abroad. 

"  I  will  sing  you  a  song,"  he  said  about  1  o'clock,  "  a  song 


230  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

born  as  a  battle-cry  in  France,  and  now  accepted  as  the  hymn 
of  revolution  the  world  over." 

In  a  low  voice  he  then  sang  a  paraphrased  translation  of  uLa 
Marsellaise,"  which  the  guards  commended  as  both  inspiring  and 
well  performed. 

TELEGRAMS  TO  PARSONS. 

A    COUPLE    OF    CHEERING    MISSIVES    RECEIVED    THIS    MORNING. 

Following  are  copies  of  the  two  dispatches  received  by  A. 
R.  Parsons  a  short  time  before  his  execution  this  morning : 

"  Boston,  Nov.  11. — Albert  jR,  Parsons,  Cook  County  Jail: 
Not  good-by,  but  hail  brothers.  From  the  gallows-trap  the 
march  will  be  taken  up.  I  will  listen  for  the  beating  of  the 
drum.  Josephine  Tilton/1 

"St.  Louis,  Mo.,  Nov.  11. — Albert  R.  Parsons,  Prisoner: 
Glorious  martyr,  in  the  name  of  social  progress  bravely  meet 
your  fate.  C.  R.  Davis." 

To  the  sender  of  the  first  telegram  Parsons  desired  that  his 
red -silk  handkerchief  be  sent. 

PARSONS  LAST  LETTER. 

A    COPY    OF    THE    DOCUMENT    SENT    TO    A    NEW    YORK    PAPER. 

New  York,  Nov.  12. — The  letter  which  Parsons  wrote  yes- 
terday morning  was  addressed  to  a  resident  of  this  city,  and 
appears  in  the  Herald  to-day,  as  follows: 

u  County  Jail,  Nov.  11,  8  o'clock  a.  m. — My  Pear  Com- 
rades :  The  guard  has  just  awakened  me  I  have  washed  my 
face  and  drank  a  cup  of  coffee.  The  doctor  asked  me  if  I 
wanted  stimulants.     I  said  no.     The  dear  boys,  Engel,  Fischer, 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  231 

and  Spies,  saluted  me  with  firm  voices.  Please  see  Sheriff  Mat- 
son  and  take  charge  of  my  papers  and  letters.  Please  have  my 
book  on  "Anarchism:  Its  Philosophy  and  Scientific  Basis,"  put 
into  good  shape.  There  are  millions  of  Americans  who  will 
want  to  read  it,  AVell,  my  dear  old  comrade,  the  hour  draws 
near.  Caesar  kept  me  awake  till  late  last  night  with  the  noise, 
music  of  hammer  and  saw  erecting  his  throne,  my  scaffold — 
refinement,  civilization.  Matson,  the  sheriff,  tells  me  he  refused 
to  let  C.'esar — the  State — secrete  my  body,  and  he  has  just  got 
my  wife's  address  from  me  to  send  her  my  remains.  Magnani- 
mous Cresar !  Good- by.  Hail  the  social  revolution!  Saluta- 
tions to  all.  A.  R.  Parsons. 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

DISCRIPTION    OF    THE   EXECUTION.       THREATNING    LETTERS.       PITTY- 

ING    JUSTICE.       OUTRAGED    LAW  VINDICATED.       MERCY    TO    THE 

GUILTY  IS  CRUELTY  TO  THE  INNOCENT.       THE    UNCHANGED 

EVERLASTING    WILL  GIVE    TO    EACH    MAN    HIS  RIGHT. 

ABUSE    OF    FREE    SPEECH.        THE   MILLS    OF    GOD 

GRIND  SLOW  BUT  EXCEEDING  FINE.     CAPTAIN 

BLACK  AT  THE  ANARCHISTS'  FUNERAL. 

The  following  description  of  the  execution  is  copied  from 
the  Daily  JSfeios: 

August  Spies,  Adolph  Fischer,  George  Engle,  and  A.  R. 
Parsons,  the  four  anarchists  who  were  tried  a  year  ago,  and  found 
guilty  of  the  murder  of  Mathias  A.  Degan  in  the  Haymarket 
square  on  May  4,  1886,  were  to-day  hanged  in  the  Cook  county 
jail  and  paid  the  penalty  of  their  crime  with  their  lives.  The 
drop  fell  at  11 :53  and  the  four  men  died  with  words  of  defiance 


232  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

and  scorn  upon  their  lips.  Parsons'  last  word  was  actually- 
strangled  in  his  throat  by  the  hangman's  noose.  Seldom,  if  ever, 
have  four  men  died  more  gamely  and  defiantly  than  the  four 
who  were  strangled  to-day. 

When  the  word  passed  around,  about  11  o'clock,  that  the 
final  hour  had  indeed  arrived,  men's  faces  grew  pale  and  the  hum 
of  excitement  passed  through  the  crowd.  They  were  quickly- 
marshaled  and  marched  down  in  a  line  to  the  gallows  corridor. 

At  10:55  fully  two  hundred  and  fifty  newspaper  men,  local 
politicians,  and  others,  among  them  the  twelve  jurors  to  view 
the  bodies  after  execution,  had  passed  through  the  dark  passage 
under  the  gallows  and  began  seating  themselves.  The  bailiff 
said  a  few  words  to  the  journalists,  begging  them  to  make  no 
rush  when  the  drop  fell,  but  to  wait  decently  and  in  order. 

Parsons  was  given  a  cup  of  coffee  a  few  minutes  before  the 
march  to  the  scaffold  was  begun. 

The  rattling  of  chairs,  tables  and  benches  continued  for 
several  minutes,  but  by  10:05  there  began  to  fall  a  hush,  and 
conversation  among  the  crowd  sank  almost  to  a  whisper.  The 
bare,  whitewashed  walls  formed  a  painful  contrast  with  the  dark- 
brown  gallows,  with  its  four  noosed  ropes  hanging  ominously 
near  the  floor. 

It  was  exactly  11:50  o'clock  when  Chief  Bailiff  Cahill  entered 
the  corridor  and  stood  beneath  the  gallows.  He  requested  in 
solemn  tones  that  the  gentlemen  present  would  remove  their 
hats.  Instantly  every  head  was  bared.  Then  the  tramp,  tramp 
of  many  footsteps  was  heard  resounding  from  the  central  cor- 
ridor, and  the  crowd  in  front  of  the  gallows  knew  that  the  con- 
demned men  had  begun  the  march  of  death.  The  slow,  steady 
march  sounded  nearer  and  nearer.     The  anarchists  were  within 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  233 

a  few  feet  of  the  scaffold.  There  was  a  pause.  The  condemned 
men  were  about  to  mount  the  stairway  leading  to  the  last  plat- 
form from  which  they  would  ever  speak.  Step  by  step,  steadily 
they  mounted  the  stairway,  and  again  there  was  another  slight 
pause.  Every  eye  was  bent  upon  the  metallic  angle  around 
which  the  four  wretched  victims  were  expected  to  make  their 
appearance.  A  moment  later  their  curiosity  was  rewarded.  With 
steady,  unfaltering  step  a  white -robed  figure  stepped  out  from 
behind  the  protecting  metallic  screen  and  stood  upon  the  drop. 
It  was  August  Spies.  It  was  evident  that  his  hands  were  firmly 
bound  behind  him  underneath  his  snowy  shroud. 

He  walked  with  a  firm,  almost  stately  tread  across  the  plat- 
form and  took  his  stand  under  the  left-hand  noose  at  the  corner 
of  the  scaffold  farthest  from  the  side  at  which  he  had  entered. 
Very  pale  was  the  expressive  face,  and  a  solemn,  far-away  light 
shone  in  his  blue  eyes.  His  tawny  hair  was  brushed  back  in 
the  usual  crisp  waves  from  the  big  white  forehead.  Nothing 
could  be  imagined  more  melancholy,  and  at  the  same  time  dig- 
nified, than  the  expression  which  sat  upon  the  face  of  August 
Spies  at  that  moment  The  chin  was  covered  with  a  freshly  bud- 
ding beard  and  partially  concealed  the  expression  of  the  firmly - 
cut  mouth.  The  lines  were  a  little  hardly  drawn  around  the 
corners,  however,  and  bespoke  great  internal  tension.  He  st<H»d 
directly  behind  the  still  noose,  which  reached  down  almost  to 
his  breast,  and,  having  first  cast  a  momentary  glance  upward  at 
the  rope,  let  his  eyes  fall  upon  the  200  faces  that  were  upturned 
toward  him.  Never  a  muscle  did  he  move,  however;  no  sign 
of  flinching  or  fear  could  be  discerned  in  the  white  face — white 
almost  as  the  shroud  which  it  surmounted. 

Spies  had  scarcely  taken  his  place  when  he  was  followed  by 


234  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

Fischer.  He,  too,  was  clad  in  a  long  white  shroud  that  was 
gathered  in  at  the  ankles.  His  tall  figure  towered  several  inches 
over  that  of  Spies,  and  as  he  stationed  himself  behind  his  par- 
ticular noose  his  face  was  very  pale,  but  a  faint  smile  rested  upon 
his  lips.  Like  Spies,  the  white  robe  set  off  to  advantage  the 
rather  pleasing  features  of  Fischer,  and  as  the  man  stood  there 
waiting  for  his  last  moment  his  pale  face  was  as  calm  as  if  he 
were  asleep,  Next  came  George  Engel.  There  was  a  ruddy 
glow  uj3on  the  rugged  countenance  of  the  old  anarchist,  and 
when  he  ranged  himself  alongside  Fischer  he  raised  himself  to 
his  full  height,  while  his  burly  form  seemed  to  expand  with  the 
feelings  that  were  within  him.  Last  came  Parsons.  His  face 
looked  actually  handsome,  though  it  was  very  pale.  When  he 
stepped  upon  the  gallows  he  turned  partially  sideways  to  the 
dangling  noose  and  regarded  it  with  a  fixed,  stony  gaze— one  of 
mingled  surprise  and  curiosity.  Then  he  straightened  himself 
under  the  fourth  noose,  and,  as  he  did  so,  he  turned  his  big  gray 
eyes  upon  the  crowd  below  with  such  a  look  of  awful  reproach 
and  sadness  as  could  not  fail  to  strike  the  innermost  chord  of 
the  hardest  heart  there.  It  was  a  look  never  to  be  forgotten. 
There  was  an  expression  almost  of  inspiration  on  the  white, 
calm  face,  and  the  great,  stony  eyes  seemed  to  burn  into  nie^s 
hearts  and  ask:  "  What  have  I  done?  " 

There  they  stood  upon  the  scaffold,  four  white  robed  figures, 
with  set,  stoical  faces,  to  which  it  would  seem  no  influence  could 
bring  a  tremor  of  fear. 

And  now  a  bailiff  approaches,  and,  seizing  Parsons'  robe,  pass- 
ed a  leathern  strap  around  his  ankles.  In  a  moment  they  were 
closely  pinioned  together.  Engel's  legs  were  next  strapped 
together,  and  when  the  official  approached  Fischer,  the  latter 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  235 

straightened  up  his  tall  figure  to  its  full  height  and  placed  his 
ankles  close  together  to  facilitate  the  operation.  Spies  was  the 
last,  but  he  was  the  first  around  whose  neck  the  fatal  cord  was 
placed.  One  of  the  attendant  bailiffs  seized  the  noose  in  front 
of  Spies  and  passed  it  deftly  over  the  doomed  man's  head.  It 
caught  over  his  right  ear,  but  Spies,  with  a  shake  of  his  head, 
cast  it  down  around  his  neck,  and  then  the  bailiff  tightened  it 
till  it  touched  the  warm  flesh,  and  carefully  placed  the  noose 
beneath  the  left  ear. 

When  the  officer  approached  Fischer  threw  back  his  head 
and  bared  his  long,  muscular  throat  by  the  movement. 

Fischer's  neck  was  very  long  and  the  noose  nestled  snugly 
around  it.  When  it  was  tightened  around  his  windpipe  Fischer 
turned  around  to  Spies  and  laughingly  whispered  something  in 
Spies1  ear.  But  the  latter  either  did  not  hear  him  or  else  was 
too  much  occupied  with  other  thoughts  to  pay  attention.  Eugel 
smiled  down  at  the  crowd,  and  then  turning  to  Deputy  Peter-, 
who  guarded  him,  he  smiled  gratefully  toward  him  and  whis- 
pered something  to  the  officer  that  seemed  to  affect  him.  It 
looked  at  first  as  if  Engel  were  about  to  salute  his  guard  with  a 
kiss,  but  he  evidently  satisfied  himself  with  some  word  of  peace. 
Parson's  face  never  moved  as  the  noose  dropped  over  his  head, 
but  the  same  terrible,  fixed  look  was  on  his  face. 

And  now  people  were  expecting  that  the  speeches  for  which 
the  four  doomed  ones  craved  twenty  minutes  each  this  morning 
would  be  delivered,  but  to  every  one's  surprise  the  officer  who 
had  adjusted  the  noose  proceeded  to  fit  on  the  white  cap  without 
delay.  It  was  first  placed  on  Spies'  head,  completely  hiding 
his  head  and  face.  Just  before  the  cap  was  pulled  over  Fischer's 
head  Deputy  Spears  turned  his  eyes  up  to  meet  those  of  the 


236  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

tall  young  anarchist.  Fischer  smiled  down  on  his  guard  just 
as  pleasantly  as  Engel  did  on  his,  and  he  seemed  to  be  whis- 
pering some  words  of  forgiveness,  but  it  may  have  been  other- 
wise, as  not  even  the  faintest  echo  reached  the  men  in  the 
corridor  below.  Engel  and  Parsons  soon  donned  their  white 
caps  after  this,  and  now  the  four  men  stood  upon  the  scaffold 
clad  from  top  to  toe  in  pure  white. 

All  was  ready  now  for  the  signal  to  let  the  drop  fall.  In 
the  little  box  at  the  back  of  the  stage  and  fastened  to  the  wall 
the  invisible  executioner  stood  with  axe  poised,  ready  to  cut  the 
cord  that  held  them  between  earth  and  heaven.  The  men  had 
not  noticed  this  but  they  knew  the  end  was  near. 

For  an  instant  there  was  a  dead  silence,  and  then  a  mournful 
solemn  voice  sounded  from  behind  the  first  right-hand  mask, 
and  cut  the  air  like  a  wail  of  sorrow  and  warning.  Spies  was 
speaking  from  behind  his  shroud. 

The  words  seemed  to  drop  into  the  cold,  silent  air  like  pellets 
of  fire.  Here  is  what  he  said :  "  It  is  not  meet  that  I  should 
speak  here,  where  my  silence  is  more  terrible  than  my  utter- 
ances." 

Then  a  deeper,  stronger  voice  came  out  with  a  muffled,  mys- 
terious cadence  from  behind  the  white  pall  that  hid  the  face  of 
Fischer.  He  only  spoke  eight  words  :  "  This  is  the  happiest 
moment  of  my  life." 

But  the  next  voice  that  catches  up  the  refrain  is  a  different 
one.  It  is  firm,  but  the  melancholy  wail  was  not  in  it.  It  was 
harsh,  loud,  exultant.  Engel  was  cheering  for  anarchy.  "Hur- 
rah for  anarchy  !  Hurrah  ! "  were  the  last  words  and  the  last 
cheer  of  George  Engel. 

But  now  the  weird  and  ghastly  scene  was  brought  to  a 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  237 

climax.  Parsons  alone  remained  to  speak.  Out  from  behind 
his  mask  his  voice  sounded  more  sad,  and  there  was  a  more 
dreary,  reproachful  tone  in  it  than  even  in  Spies.  "  May  I  be 
allowed  to  speak?  Oh,  men  of  America!1'  he  cried,  "may  I 
be  allowed  the  privilege  of  speech  even  at  the  last  moment  \ 
Harken  to  the  voice  of  the  people " 

There  was  a  sudden  pause.  Parsons  never  spoke  a  word 
more.  A  sharp,  creaking  noise,  a  crash,  a  sickening,  cracking 
sound,  and  Spies,  Parsons,  Fischer,  and  Engel  were  no  more. 

When  the  pulse-beats  of  all  became  imperceptible,  which 
was  about  12:10  o'clock,  the  physicians  sat  down  and  the  bodies 
swung  back  and  forth,  while  the  deputies  stood  above  them. 
There  was  a  continual  shifting  of  seats  after  the  physicians  left 
the  bodies,  and  nearly  all  who  could  get  away  wanted  to  be 
allowed  to  do  so.  The  sheriff  opened  a  door  at  the  west  side  of 
the  building  and  a  great  many  of  the  spectators  left. 

At  12:20  Spies'  body  was  let  down  and  placed  in  a  coffin, 
while  the  doctor  examined  him  and  found  that  the  neck  was  not 
broken.  He  wore  a  dark-gray  flannel  shirt  and  dark  panta- 
loons, but  no  coat.  His  arms  were  confined  by  a  strap,  as  were 
those  of  all  the  others. 

Fischer  was  next  cut  down.     His  neck  was  not  broken.     He 
wore  a  blue  flannel  shirt  and  gray  trousers. 

Engel  came  next.  He  had  a  blue  flannel  shirt  and  wore  a  col- 
lar.  His  neck  was  broken,  but  the  spinal  cord  was  not  severed. 

Parsons  was  the  last  to  be  taken  down.  He  was  clad  in  a 
neat  black  suit,  but  had  only  an  undershirt  on. 

When  all  the  bodies  had  been  arranged  in  the  coffins  the 
physicians  made  another  examination,  and  then  the  lids  were 
placed  on  the  coffins,  and  the  work  was  done. 


238  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

The  condemned  men  directed  that  their  bodies  be  turned 
over  to  their  wives,  except  Spies,  who  wanted  his  body  given  to 
his  mother.  Their  wishes  were  respected,  and  Coroner  Hertz 
has  directed  that  the  body  of  Lingg  be  given  to  Mrs.  Engel  and 
the  Carpenters*  Union,  in  accordance  with  Lingg's  request,  so 
that  they  may  all  be  buried  together. 

Since  the  conviction  and  condemnation  of  the  anarchists  of 
Haymarket  notoriety  in  1886,  the  whole  world  has  stood  with 
breathless  anxiety  watching  for  the  ultimate, and  no  other  avenue 
was  left  open  but  to  inflict  the  penalty  commensurate  with  their 
crime.  Officers  of  the  law  frequently  received  letters  threat- 
mug  to  wreak  a  summary  vengeance  upon  them  providing  the 
sentence  was  carried  out.  The  condemned  maintained  a  bold 
and  belligerent  attitude,  while  every  means  to  intimidate  and 
thwart  justice  which  the  machinations  of  the  nefarious  Herr 
Most  could  devise,  and  his  minions  could  hurl  life  flaming  brands 
broadcast  amid  a  peace-loving  and  contented  people  have  been 
resorted  to.  But  pitying  justice  wept  with  drooping  head  o'er 
the  stern  necessity  which  called  for  the  interposition  of  her  iron 
hand  having  discarded  the  scepter  for  the  rod.  When  the  hand 
of  outraged  law  and  justice  is  raised  the  blow  must  fall  in  order 
to  vindicate  the  majesty  of  the  law.  America  has  set  the  foot 
of  the  Goddess  of  Liberty  upon  the  neck  of  anarchy  and 
crushed  the  serpent  brood. 

AFTER   THE    EXECUTION. 

Two  hours  after  the  terrible  and  disagreeable  duty  of  Sheriff 
Matson  had  been  performed,  in  the  name,  and  for  the  peace  of 
the  State  of  Illinois,  in  the  execution  of  the  four  condemned 
anarchists,  their  bodies  had  been  delivered  to  their  friends,  the 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 


_':;:* 


gallows  liad  been  taken  down  and  stowed  in  its  accustomed 
place,  and  not  one  vestige  of  the  awful  punishment  which  had 
just  been  inflicted  remained  to  tell  that  anything  out  of  the 
ordinary  had  transpired. 

Every  good  citizen  and  right-thinking  American  will  join 
with  me  in  extending  to  their  afflicted  widows  and  orphan 
children  sincere  and  heart-felt  commiseration  for  the  calamity 
which  has  befallen  them.  While  the  law  inflicts  punishment 
for  its  violation,  it  does  it  for  the  public  good.  Mercy  was  not 
to  be  considered  longer  in  their  case.  "  Mercy  to  the  guilty  is 
cruelty  to  the  innocent."  The  great  book  of  law  is  prefaced 
with  these  words.  Justice  is  the  unchanged  everlasting  will  to 
give  each  man  his  right.  The  right  to  free  speech  had  been 
accorded  to  these  men,andit  had  been  abused.  Under  the  dia- 
bolical teachings  of  Herr  Most,  anarchy  promised  soon  to  become 
the  ruling  power.  But  they  have,  we  trust,  ascertained  that 
America  is  a  poor  and  barren  soil  in  which  to  cause  anarchy  to 
grow  and  flourish.  They  have  found  that  though  the  mills  of 
God  grind  slow,  yet  they  grind  exceeding  fine. 

We  shall  forever  be  surprised  beyond  expression  at  the 
words  made  use  of  at  the  funeral  of  the  anarchists  on  Sunday, 
November  13,  by  Captain  Black,  in  his  oration  over  the  bodies 
of  these  outlaws.  He  was  said  to  have  used  the  following  words: 
"For  the  love  of  truth  they  died,"  said  the  orator.  "They 
fought  for  a  cause,  believing  themselves  in  the  right,  and  in  the 
years  to  come  they  will  be  loved  and  revered." 

Captain  Black  was  followed  by  other  speakers  who  made 
use  of  language  very  expressive  and  forcible. 

T.  J.  Morgan  followed  with  a  speech  in  which  he  dwelt  on 
the  last  words  of  the  men  before  the  drop  fell.     The  immense 


240  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

throng  at  the  grave  became  excited  and  frequently  interrupted 
him. 

"  Let  the  voice  of  the  people  be  heard,"  he  cried,  in  Parson's 
last  words.  When  he  spoke  of  the  majesty  of  the  law  a  voice 
cried:  "Throttle  the  law  !"  When  he  asked:  "Shall  we  be 
revenged  on  Bonfield,  Grinnell,  Gary,  and  Oglesby?"  voices 
cried:  "Yes,  yes!  Hang  them!"  Albert  Currlin,  formerly 
of  the  Arheiter  Zeitung,  spoke  in  German  and  called  the  labor- 
ing men  cowards  for  permitting  the  "  five-fold  murder." 

CHAPTER  XV. 

a  description  of  herr  most's  sanctum.     a  den  where  anarchy 
was   begotten.     the   anarchist   chief's   museum   of 
weapons  and  infernal  machines.    easy  les- 
sons in  the  art  of  assassination. 

New  York,  Nov.  4,  1887. 

Since  Johann  Most's  release  I  had  often  resolved  to  visit  his 
editorial  sanctum  and  see  some  of  his  surroundings,  but  I  never 
had  the  opportunity  until  a  few  days  ago,  when  I  sought  Will- 
iam street  and  paused  a  moment  before  167.  This  is  the  place 
where  undiluted  anarchy  presents  itself  through  the  medium  of 
the  Freiheit,  which  has  succeeded  so  well  that  it  has  been 
enlaiged  to  double  its  former  size.  On  the  ground  floor  a  lager- 
beer  saloon  is  doing  a  thriving  business,  and  the  old  saying  that 
Teutonic  journalism  always  manifests  an  inclination  to  take  up 
its  abode  in  proximity  to  a  place  where  honors  are  paid  to  King 
Gambrinus  is  borne  out  in  this  instance,  even  when  the  journ- 
alists wasje  war  on  all  other  monarchs. 

Entering  the  hallway  you  will  notice,  as  soon  as  your  eyes 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  241 

are  able  to  penetrate  the  darkness,  a  large  red  banner  on  the 
wall  bearing  the  inscription,  "  Vive  la  Commune."  A  cast-iron 
letter-box,  marked  "  John  Most,"  attracts  one's  attention  for  a 
moment,  and  then  we  ascend  two  flights  of  narrow,  creaky  stairs, 
and  step  into  a  large,  dilapidated  room,  extending  over  the 
entire  top  floor  of  the  building.  Here  the  Freiheit  is  written, 
put  into  type,  and,  after  being  printed  elsewhere,  mailed  to  sub- 
scribers. There  is  hardly  a  country  on  the  globe  which  has  not 
the  honor  of  giving  shelter  to  some  anarchist  subscriber.  A 
perfect  deluge  of  revolutionary  pamphlets  issues  from  this  for- 
lorn-looking loft. 

About  a  dozen  men  were  engaged  in  folding  and  wrapping 
the  latest  number  of  the  Freiheit.  In  order  to  keep  up  their 
spirits  at  this  hard  work  a  goodly  quantity  of  the  favorite  Ger- 
man beverage  is  consumed,  cigars  and  short  pipes  emit  big 
clouds  of  smoke,  and  a  noisy  debate  is  carried  on  all  the  time. 
Every  one  of  these  savage-looking  specimens  of  humanity  strives 
to  assume  an  air  that  suggests  his  merely  waiting  for  a  favorable 
opportunity  to  slaughter  all  monarchs  and  capitalists  on  the  face 
of  the  earth.  There  are  Germans,  Frenchmen,  Russians,  Bohe- 
mians, and  a  Dane  in  the  group.  Regular  employment  is  a 
notion  too  conservative  and  utterly  foreign  to  their  minds.  They 
are  here  folding  papers  to  serve  the  revolutionary  cause,  and 
receive  no  other  recompense  than  the  consciousness  of  having 
performed  their  duty. 

OVERAWING    THE   VISITORS. 

One  of  the  heroes,  who  evidently  desires  to  overawe  us, 
takes  a  small  quantity  of  gun  cotton  out  of  his  pocket,  another 
produces  a  sample  of  dynamite,  and  each  asserts  that  the  stuff 


242  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

he  carries  is  an  excellent  agent  to  further  the  grand  idea  of  uni- 
versal anarchy.  All  join  in  a  dispute  concerning  the  most 
effective  methods  for  blowing  up  public  institutions,  and  the 
folding  business  is  meanwhile  neglected.  The  anarchist  chief, 
Herr  Most,  has  been  conversing  with  a  good-looking  young 
female  anarchist,  who  came  over  for  the  purpose  of  paying  her 
respects  to  the  great  dynamiter;  but  now  his  attention  is  directed 
to  his  hot-headed  disciples. 

"  Get  through  your  work,"  he  shouts;  "you  may  babble  all 
you  want  afterward." 

The  admonition  is  heeded  only  for  a  few  moments.  The 
folders  have  a  theme  demanding  urgent  action.  The  sentence 
of  the  Chicago  anarchists  has  excited  the  wrath  and  of  every 
anarchist  and  frenzied  cries  of  threatened  vengeance  burst  forth 
from  all  sides.  Herr  Most  again  commands  silence,  and  his 
announcement  that  a  mass-meeting  would  be  held  on  Sunday,  at 
which  both  English  and  German  speakers  would  be  present,  is 
haihd  with  tumultuous  applause.  The  presence  of  strangers 
seems  to  be  totally  ignored  for  the  moment.  The  anarchists 
fully  understand  that  they  are  at  liberty  here  to  run  the  revolu 
tionary  machine  at  their  own  sweet  pleasure,  so  long  as  the 
struggle  is  confined  to  the  tongue.  I  conclude  to  invest  5  cents, 
and  a  copy  of  the  Freilieit  is  handed  to  me.  The  editor  reflects 
upon  the  propriety  of  a  national  thanksgiving.  His  language 
is  not  choice,  but  rather  painfully  harsh.  Here  is  a  goodly 
specimen: 

"  Our  army  of  the  unemployed,  probably,  will  give  thanks 
that  the  capitalists  are  so  very  prosperous.  Poor,  haggard 
women  will  give  thanks  over  their  weak  tea  and  dry  baker's 
bread  that  they  have  been  allowed  to  lay  up  wealth  for  their 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 


243 


employers.  Factory  children,  who  never  see  anything  "but  the 
grim  shop  walls  by  daylight,  will  give  thanks  that  the)-  have 
been  brought  into  this  beautiful  world,  and  hard-working  day 
laborers  lucky  enough  to  have  any  kind  of  a  job  will  give  thanks 
that  the  cormorants  of  society  have  not  taken  the  last  mouthful 
away  from  them." 

Another  article  deals  with  the  anti-Chinese  movement  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  and  urges  the  white  workingmen  to  expel  every 
greedy  monopolist  instead  of  persecuting  the  poor  celestial. 

ANARCHISTIC    LITERATURE    AND    WEAPONS. 

Before  I  proceed  to  inspect  the  curiously  decorated  walls  my 
attention  is  called  to  an  assortment  of  anarchistic  literature 
spread  on  a  large  table.  The  most  extraordinary  productions  of 
fever-brained  revolutionists  from  all  countries  are  here  exposed 
for  sale.  The  works  of  Herr  Most  occupy  the  most  conspicu- 
ous place,  and  titles  like  "Gottespect  und  Religrionsenche,'1 
" Eigenthumsbestie,"  and  "Elements  of  Revolutionary  War- 
fare "  embelish  the  title  pages.  I  open  the  last  book  at  hap- 
hazard and  read  : 

"  The  best  of  all  preparations  to  be  used  for  poisoning  is 
curari. 

"By  heating  a  dagger  and  then  tempering  it  in  oil  of  olean- 
der, the  infliction  of  a  light  wound  would  be  sufficient  to  pro- 
duce blood-poisoning  and  death. 

"  The  cheapest  and  least  expensive  way  is  to  apply  a  mixture 
of  red  phosphorus  and  gum  arabicum  to  the  dagger,  cartridge, 
etc. 

"  This  precious  stuff  (dynamite),  which  is  able  to  blast  a 
mass  of  solid  rock,  might  also  do  good  service  at  an  assembly  of 


244  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

royal  or  aristocratic  personages,  or  at  an  entertainment  patron- 
ized by  monopolists." 

Herr  Most,  who  had  eyed  me  sharply,  asked  at  last :  "Would 
you  like  to  join  our  circle,  or  perhaps  it  is  only  a  few  of  your 
private  enemies  you  contemplate  doing  up?  All  necessary 
information  can  be  had  by  studying  my  '  Kriegswissencraft.' " 
The  hint  was  a  broad  one,  and  I  thought  it  the  safest  plan  to 
spend  a  dime  on  the  "  murder  pamphlet,"  thus  propitiating  the 
tiger  in  his  den. 

The  room  might  be  considered  at  first  glance  an  armory. 
There  are  revolvers  of  all  constructions,  daggers,  rifles,  infernal 
machines,  and  a  big  saber  with  a  rusty  scabbard.  I  could 
scarcely  repress  a  laugh  at  this  relic  of  the  great  French  revo- 
lution, or  some  equally  remote  historic  event. 

"You  make  a  mistake  by  laughing,"  said  Most,  unsheathing 
the  sword.  "  You  will  observe  the  blade  is  as  sharp  as  a  razor, 
and,"  he  added  with  a  certain  pride,  "  the  point  is,  by  way  of 
experiment,  coated  with  a  solution  of  cyanide  of  potassium." 

The  majority  of  the  rifles  are  breech-loaders,  formerly  used 
in  the  United  States  army,  and  bought  by  Most  in  large  lots  at 
auction  for  retailing  among  his  followers.  On  a  shelf  above  the 
editor's  desk  a  variety  of  the  most  dangerous  poisons,  liquid  and 
solid,  are  openly  exposed.  The  anarchist  chief  remarked,  with 
a  grim  smile,  that  he  seriously  contemplated  breeding  cholera 
and  yellow-fever  germs  for  the  purpose  of  exterminating  man- 
kind, rather  than  suffer  the  present  condition  of  society  to  per- 
petuate itself. 

WALL   DECORATIONS. 

The  walls  of  the  room  are  almost  totally  covered  with  pict- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  245 

ures,  portraits,  newspaper  headings,  etc.  In  crazy-quilt  fashion 
is  arranged  Lieske,  Shakspere,  Hoedel,  Rousseau,  Karl  Marx, 
Feurbach,  Stuart  Mill,  Thomas  Paine,  Richard  Wagner,  Ma  rut, 
Hans  Sachs,  St.  Simon,  LaSalle,  Proudhon,  Anton  Kammerer, 
Stallmacher,  the  Irish  patriots,  Brady,  Kelly,  Curley,  Tynan, 
Wilson,  Gallagher,  and  Normann  a  life-size  picture  of  Louise 
Michel,  an  excellent  photograph  of  prince  Krapotkine,  pictures 
from  Puck,  Punch,  Fleigende  Blatter,  sketches  from  George 
Eber's  "  Egypt  " — a  queer  collection  indeed. 

Herr  Most  takes  especial  pride  in  a  gibbet  traced  in  red 
lines  on  the  whitewashed  wall  and  bearing  portraits  of  the  fol- 
lowing persons:  The  emperors  of  Germany,  Russia,  and  Austria, 
Queen  Victoria,  President  Grevey,  King  Humbert,  King  Chris- 
tian of  Denmark  and  his  premier,  Estrup;  the  Shah  of  Persha; 
the  Sultan,  the  Emperors  of  China,  Japan,  and  Brazil,  and  Pres- 
ident Cleveland.  As  an  illustration  of  the  bitter  feeling  pre- 
vailing between  the  anarchists  and  socialists  was  a  caricature  of 
Alexander  Jonas,  the  socialist  politician,  playing  a  flute  to  the 
inspiring  tune,  "  Wait  Till  the  Clouds  Roll  By." 

The  German  Chancellor,  Prince  Bismarck,  is  caricatured  a 
dozen  different  ways,  and  blood-thirsty  sentiments  are  written 
beneath  the  pictures.  A  large  picture  presents  the  famous  Rus- 
conspirators  against  Alexander  II.;  another  recalls  the  trial  of 
Reinsdorf  and  comrades,  charged  with  high  treason;  then  fol- 
low some  scenes  from  the  Paris  commune  in  1871,  and  next  to 
these  sanguinary  sketches  an  elegant  fan  is  suspended,  uncon- 
scious of  its  strange  surroundings.  Anarchistic  papers  from 
every  quarter  of  the  world  are  pasted  from  ceiling  to  floor,  and 
we  learn  the  existence  of  obscure  journals  like  Xi  Dieu,  Ni 
Maitre,  Fackel,  Le  Cri  du  Peuple,  Alarm,  Lucifer,  Revolte,  La 


246  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

Question  Sociale,  the  Rouinelian  periodical  Revista  Sociale,  II 
Fascio  Operairo,  Der  Arnie  Teufel,  and  Proletareu.  Italians 
who  stray  into  this  nest  have  an  opportunity  of  studying  a 
«  Programma  Socialista,  Anarchico,  Revoluzionario  del  Giuppo 
Italiano." 

Perhaps  the  master  of  this  queer  den  will  soon  view  the 
world  once  more  through  prison  bars. 

Comyns  Ray. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

BIOGRAPHY    OF    HERR    MOST.       HIS    PAST  CAREER  AND  EARLY  TRAIN- 
ING.      HIS  IMPRISONMENT  IN  THE  BASTILE  AND  RED  TOWER  FOR 
PREACHING  HIS    GOSPEL    OF    BLOOD.       EXTRACTS    FROM 
HIS  INFLAMMATORY  UTTERANCES.       WHET  YOUR 
DAGGERS.       LET  EVERY  PRINCE  FIND  A 
BRUTUS    BY    HIS  THRONE. 

THE    PAST    CAREER    OF    HERR    MOST. 

That  practice  has  now  become  obsolete  of  predicting  the 
future  of  a  child  by  consulting  the  aspect  of  the  planet  under 
which  it  was  born  at  the  day  and  hour  of  birth.  At  the  advent 
of  Herr  Most  upon  this  mundane  sphere,  who,  looking  through 
the  horroscope  of  his  future,  but  could  in  the  interests  of  human- 
ity, have  wished  that  the  feeble  spark  of  life  in  the  frail  teni- 
ment  might  have  become  extinguished,  or  that  it  had  never 
existed. 

In  the  city  of  Augsburg  on  -the  River  Lech,  which  is  a  trib- 
utary of  the  blue  rolling  Danube  in  Bavaria  in  Germany,  in 
the  year  1840,  and  on  the  5th  day  of  February  Herr  Most  first 
saw  the  light  of  day.     A  long  period  of  sickness  while  yet  an 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  247 

infant  served  to  render  his  features  hideous  by  some  malignanl 
disease  eating  away  a  portion  of  his  cheek,  but  his  record  goes 
to  prove  conclusively  that  he  still  retained  enough  to  render 
himself  obnoxious  to  every  lover  of  law  and  order. 

Endowed  by[nature  with  procivities  to  resist  all  rule  and  law, 
gained  from  an  unloving  stepmother  much  harsh  treatment.  lie 
became  apprenticed  to  a  book-binder  when  a  mere  lad,  and  the 
cruel  treatment  received  at  the  hands  of  his  employer  failed  to 
change  the  bent  of  his  inclinations.  He  had  a  passion  for  tin- 
stage  which  he  gratified  by  striking  an  attitude  and  reciting  in 
tragic  style  with  dramatic  effect  any  occurrence  which  attracted 
his  attention  to  the  infinite  amusement  of  boys,  and  pedestrians 
on  the  street  would  stop  to  listen  to  his  native  eloquence  and 
behold  his  crude  dramatic  gestures.  We  find  him  in  Switzer- 
land in  1867,  endeavoring  to  establish  anarchy  with  a  zeal 
worthy  of  a  better  cause.  We  next  find  him  in  Vienna  where 
in  one  of  his  scathing  speeches  he  characterized  Liberalism  as 
a  swindle;  the  priests  as  deceivers.  For  this  speech  he  receive- 1 
a  jail  sentence  of  four  weeks.  Shortly  after  his  release,  he  was 
again  sentenced  to  five  years'  imprisonment  for  high  treason. 
However,  after  having  served  six  months  of  the  term,  through 
some  ministerial  change,  he  was  released.  A  half  an  hour  later 
he  was  again  on  the  platform  firing  hot  shot  and  shell  into  the 
ranks  of  the  government  with  all  the  force  of  his  burning 
invective.  His  ability  to  sway  the  masses  alarmed  the  new  gov- 
ernment, and  they  took  measures  to  have  him  banished.  He 
went  to  Chemnitz  where  he  became  popular  as  an  agitator,  and 
successful  in  establishing  his  doctrine  of  anarchy  as  the  gospel 
of  blood,  for  which  he  was  incarcerated  temporarily  in  the  red 
tower,  a  very  unpopular  jail.     September  3,  1872,  while  return- 


248  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY 

mg  from  Mayence,  where  he  had  attended  a  socialistic  congress, 
he  was  again  arrested,  and  a  few  days  later  was  sentenced  to 
eight  months  in  prison.  In  1874,  for  some  expressions  used  in 
favor  of  the  commune  of  Paris,  although  a  member  of  Parlia- 
ment, he  was  given  eighteen  months  in  the  German  bastile.  At 
the  expiration  of  his  sentence  he  became  identified  with  the  Ber- 
lin Free  Press,  and  for  his  freedom  of  speech  he  was  again  sen- 
tenced to  six  months  in  jail,  having  served  his  sentence  he 
crossed  out  of  his  native  land  to  London  where  he  took  charge 
of  the  new  journal,  the  Freiheit,  and  while  occupying  this  posi- 
tion he  received  a  pressing  invitation  to  come  to  Chicago  and 
take  charge  of  the  Arbeiter  Zeitung,  which  he  declined,  believ- 
ing as  he  did  that  the  era  of  the  mad  misrule  of  anarchy  was  on 
the  eve  of  being  inaugurated  He  visited  Paris,  and  during  his 
stay  directed  a  speech  full  of  burning  hatred  against  the  German 
Emperor,  for  which  he  was  accorded  two  years  in  jail.  On  his 
release  he  hastened  to  put  the  channel  between  him  and  that 
hated  country.  In  1880  he  was  again  in  Switzerland,  scattering 
the  seeds  of  anarchy,  and  forging  thunderbolts  for  his  enemies, 
and  many  of  his  publications  found  their  way  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  Europe. 

In  one  of  his  effusions  he  said. 

"  Science  has  put  in  our  possession  instruments  with  which 
beasts  of  society  may  be  removed.  Princes,  ministers,  states- 
men, bishops,  prelates  and  other  officials,  civil  and  clerical, 
journalists  and  lawyers,  representatives  of  the  aristocracy  and 
middle  classes,  must  have  their  heads  broken.1' 

When  Alexander  II.  of  Russia  was  murdered,  "  Triumph  ! 
triumph!"  he  wrote;  "the  monster  has  been  executed,11  etc.,  and 
yet  this  "monster  "  (  ?)  was  the  man  who  had  struck  the  mana- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  249 

cles  from  the  feet  of  Russia's  serfs;  had  lifted  millions  of  a 
degraded  people  to  citizenship.  His  outburst  on  this  occasion 
gained  him  sixteen  months  in  an  English  prison.  In  December 
of  1882  he  was  en  route  for  New  York,  where  he  met  with  a 
most  enthusiastic  reception. 

The  anarchists  have  now  eleven  regular  organs  in  circula- 
tion. Five  of  these  appear  in  English,  five  in  German,  and  one 
in  the  French  language.  A  few  extracts  we  herein  embody  will 
serve  to  demonstrate  the  savage  nature  of  these  agitators.  He 
says. 

"If  each  member  of  the  anarchist  party  some  tine  morning 
would  seek  out  some  hated  tyrant  and  pick  a  quarrel ;  if  only 
each  man  would  carry  a  private  supply  of  some  destructive 
agency  in  his  pocket  and  wrould  either  stab,  poison,  or  with 
powder,  lead,  or  dynamite  do  to  death  our  enemies,  wherever 
found,  in  house,  office,  bureau,  shop,  or  factory;  if  that  could 
only  be  done  in  fifty  places  at  the  same  moment ;  if  fires  could 
only  be  started  in  fifty  different  places  at  the  same  time ;  if  only 
special  parties  detailed  for  the  purpose  would  cut  the  telephone 
and  telegraph  wires — must  not  a  general  panic  result?  Would 
not  society  be  wild  with  fright?  And  would  not  the  rabble  as 
if  by  magic  be  inflamed  with  revolutionary  passion?" 

Can  anything  be  more  diabolical  ?  But  Host's  paper,  from 
which  I  have  quoted,  is  mild  compared  with  the  Rebdl.  This 
sheet  is  the  organ  of  Peukert.  At  present  both  papers  vie  with 
each  other  in  disseminating  anarchism  among  the  farming  pop- 
ulation. In  1884  Most  said:  "To  find  a  way  for  getting 
$100,000,000  would  do  the  cause  more  good  than  to  dash  the 
brains  out  of  ten  kings.     Gold — money — is  wanted. 

"Lay  hold  where  and  when  you  can,1'  he  continues.     "  The 


250  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

less  noife  you  make  in  laying  and  carrying  out  your  plans  the 
less  danger  and  the  better  success.  The  revolver  is  good  in 
extreme  cases,  dynamite  in  great  movements,  but,  generally 
speaking,  the  dagger  and  poison  are  the  best  means  of  propaga- 
tion. Yes,  tremble,  ye  canaille,  ye  bloodsuckers,  ye  ravishers 
maidens,  murderers,  and  hangmen,  the  day  of  reckoning  and 
revenge  is  near.  The  fight  has  begun  along  the  picket  line. 
A  girdle  of  dynamite  encircles  the  world,  not  only  the  old  but 
the  new.  The  bloody  band  of  tyrants  are  dancing  on  the  surface 
of  a  volcano.  There  is  dynamite  in  England,  France,  Germany, 
Russia,  Italy,  Spain,  New  York,  and  Canada.  It  will  be  hot  on 
the  day  of  action,  and  yet  the  brood  will  shudder  in  the  sight 
of  death  and  gnash  their  teeth.  Set  fire  to  the  houses,  put 
poison  in  all  kinds  of  food,  put  poisoned  nails  on  the  chairs 
occupied  by  our  enemies,  dig  mines  and  fill  them  with  explosives, 
whet  your  daggers,  load  your  revolvers,  cap  them,  fill  bombs  and 
have  them  ready.  Hurl  the  priest  from  the  altar ;  shoot  him 
down  !     Let  each  prince  find  a  Brutus  by  his  throne." 

The  foregoing  language  is  calculated  to  tend  toward  subver- 
sion of  law  and  justice,  and  is  revolutionary  and  treasonable  in 
its  nature,  teachings  of  this  nature  from  Reinsdorf  and  Most, 
are  the  direct  cause  of  our  Haymarket  massacre.  The  authori- 
ties are  responsible  largely  for  the  commission  of  crime  which 
they  may  prevent  even  by  resorting  to  extreme  measures  in 
enforcing  the  law.  While  we  desire  peace  in  all  our  borders, 
yet  we  believe  that  transgressors  of  the  law  should  be  made  to 
feel  that  "God  reigns,  and  the  government  at  Washington 
still  lives." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  25: 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

BIOGRAPHIES    OF   SPIES    AND    THE    OTHER    SEVEN    CONDEMNED  MEN. 
THEIR  BIRTHPLACE,  EDUCATION  AND  PRIVATE  LIFE.       PAR- 
SONS' LETTER  TO  THE    "  DAILY  NEWS  ,1    AFTER 
THE  EXPLOSION,    WHILE  A  FUGITIVE 
FROM    JUSTICE. 

AUGUST    SPIES. 

August  Vincent  Theodore  Spies  was  born  in  Landeck,  Hesse 
in  1855.  His  father  was  a  ranger.  Sines  caiue  to  America  in 
1872,  and  to  Chicago  in  1873,  where  for  a  number  of  years  he 
worked  as  an  upholsterer.  He  first  became  interested  in  social- 
istic theories  in  1875,  and  two  years  later  joined  the  socialistic 
labor  party,  and  the  Lehr  und  Wehr  verein.  He  became  con- 
nected with  the  Arbeiter  Zeitun.g  in  1880.  He  succeeded  Paul 
Grottkau  as  editor-in-chief  in  1884.  From  that  time  onward  he 
was  looked  up  to  as  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  influential 
anarchist  leaders.  He  was  educated  by  a  private  tutor  during 
his  early  boyhood  days.  He  afterward  studied  at  a  Polytechnic 
institute. 

ALBERT    PARSONS. 

Albert  R.  Parsons  was  born  in  Montgomery,  Ala.,  in  1848. 
His  parents  died  when  he  was  young,  and  his  rearing  fell  to  the 
lot  of  his  elder  brother,  W.  R.  Parsons,  who  was  a  general  in 
the  Confederate  army.  In  1855  he  removed  to  Johnson  county. 
Texas,  taking  Albert  with   him.     The   latter   received   some 


252  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

schooling  at  Waco,  and  subsequently  became  a  printer  on  the 
Galveston  News.  When  the  war  broke  out  he  ran  away  from 
home  and  became  a  "powder  monkey  "in  a  company  of  confed- 
erate artillery.  Subsequently  he  served  successively  under  the 
command  of  his  brothers,  Richard  and  William  H.  Parsons. 
After  the  war  he  edited  the  Spectator,  a  weekly  paper,  at  Waco. 
Much  to  the  disgust  of  his  brothers,  he  became  a  Republican, 
and  something  of  a  politician.  As  such  he  held  one  or  two  sub- 
ordinate federal  offices  at  Austin,  and  at  one  time  was  secretary 
of  the  State  Senate.  Coming  to  Chicago  he  worked  for  a  time 
in  various  printing  offices,  and  then  became  a  professional  labor 
agitator.  He  was  at  one  time  Master  Workman  of  District 
Assembly  24,  Knights  of  Labor,  and  president  of  the  Trades 
Assembly  for  three  years.  In  1879  he  was  nominated  by  the 
Socialistic  Labor  party  as  a  candidate  for  their  President  of  the 
United  States,  but  declined,  as  he  was  not  then  thirty -five  years 
old.  In  1883,  at  Pittsburg,  he  helped  to  frame  the  platform  of 
the  International  Working  People's  Association.  He  was  put 
forward  by  the  socialists  as  a  candidate  for  city  clerk  in  1883. 
He  became  editor  of  the  Alarm,  the  organ  of  the  "  American 
group"  of  anarchists  in  Chicago  in  1884,  which  position  he  held 
up  to  the  time  of  the  Haymarket  riot  in  May  1886,  but  on  the 
morning  following  the  explosion,  A.  R.  Parsons  was  not  found  in 
his  accustomed  place  as  editor  of  the  Alarm.  He  had  decamped, 
but  many  believed  he  was  hiding  in  Chicago,  as  on  the  evening 
of  the  7th  of  May  a  letter  posted  in  Chicago  at  7:30  was 
received  by  the  editor  of  the  Daily  News,  which  ran  thus : 
'  Mr.  M.  K  Stone,  Editor  Dally  News: 

"Dear  Sir — I  want  to  speak  a  word  through  you  to  my  fel- 
low-workers, just  to  let  them  know  that  I  am  still  in  the  land  of 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 


253 


the  living  and  looking  out  for  their  interests. 

"  And  further,  give  a  few  hints  to  some  of  the  fellows  who 
desire  to  live  on  anarchists,  that  maybe  for  their  welfare.  In 
the  first  place,  I  am  watching  the  papers  and  also  the  knowing 
chaps  who  give  the  pointers  as  to  my  whereabouts,  some  of 
whom  will  make  good  subjects  for  the  coroner's  inquest  one  of 
these  days  should  they  persist  in  their  present  course.  To  the 
public  I  desire  to  say  that  the  devil  is  never  so  black  as  you  can 
paint  him.  I  will  in  due  time  turn  up  and  answer  for  myself 
for  anything  I  may  have  said  or  done.  I  have  no  regrets  for 
past  conduct  and  no  pledges  for  the  future  if  there  is  to  be 
nothing  but  blood  and  death  for  the  toilers  of  America.  When- 
ever the  public  decide  to  use  reason  and  justice  in  dealing  with 
the  producing  class,  just  at  that  time  will  you  see  me.  But, 
should  the  decision  be  to  continue  the  present  course  of  death 
and  slavery  just  so  long  will  I  wage  relentless  war  on  all  organ- 
ized force,  and  all  endeavor  to  find  me  will  be  fruitless.  Watch- 
ing my  wife  and  her  kind  friends  is  of  no  use.  I  am  dead  to 
them  already.  I  count  my  life  already  sacrificed  for  daring  to 
stand  between  tyrants  and  slaves. 

"  To  show  you  how  well  I  am  kept  posted,  I  know  who  was 
sent  to  LaGrange  forme  to-day.  I  was  not  there.  I  know  who 
put  you  on  the  track  of  Glasgow,  and  just  where  to  find  him. 
Just  say  to  that  man  for  me  that  his  day  of  reckoning  will  come 
soon.  I  read  all  the  papers  to-day,  and  will  see  the  Unit*,  Inter- 
Ocean,  and  Hesing  later. 

"Now,  as  to  what  must  be  done  to  satisfy  the  anarchists  is 
to  stop  all  these  demands  for  blood  and  show  a  spirit  of  reason 
and  a  disposition  to  put  down  the  oppressors  of  the  people,  and 
enforce  laws  against  rich  thieves  as  readily  as  you  do  against 


254  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

the  poor.  Grant  every  fair  demand  of  labor.  Give  those  poor 
creatures  enough  to  satisfy  their  hunger,  and  I  will  guarantee  a 
quiet  period  in  which  all  the  great  questions  of  land  and  wages, 
and  rights  can  be  put  in  operation  without  further  bloodshed. 
But  if  not,  I  am  already  sacrificed  as  a  martyr  for  the  cause.  I 
have  thousands  of  brethren  who  will  sell  their  lives  just  as  dearly 
as  I  will  mine,  and  at  just  as  great  cost  to  our  enemies. 

"  I  shall  wait  as  long  as  I  think  necessary  for  the  public  to 
take  warning,  and  then  you  decide  your  own  fate. 

"  It  must  be  liberty  for  the  people  or  death  for  capitalists. 
I  am  not  choosing  more.  It  is  your  choice  and  your  last.  I  love 
humanity,  and  therefore  die  for  it.  No  one  can  do  more.  Every 
drop  of  my  blood  shall  count  an  avenger,  and  woe  to  America 
when  these  are  in  arms. 

"  I  have  not  slept,  nor  shall  I  sleep  until  I  sleep  the  sleep  of 
death,  or  my  fellow-men  are  on  the  road  to  liberty. 

"  A.  K.  Parsons." 

SAMUEL    FIELDEN, 

Samuel  Fielden  was  born  in  Todmorden,  Lancashire,  Eng- 
land, in  1847,  and  spent  thirteen  years  of  his  boyhood  working 
in  a  cotton  mill.  In  early  manhood  he  became  a  Methodist  min- 
ister and  Sunday-school  superintendent  in  his  native  place.  In 
1868  he  came  to  New  York,  worked  for  a  few  months  in  a  cot- 
ton mill,  and  in  the  following  year  came  to  Chicago.  For  the 
greater  portion  of  the  time  since  he  has  worked  as  a  laborer. 
He  joined  the  liberal  league  in  1880,  where  he  met  Spies  and 
Parsons.  He  became  a  socialist  in  1883,  and  has  spent  much 
time  as  a  traveling  agitator  of  the  International  Working  Peo- 
ple's association. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  255 

We  feel  sure  that  Samuel  Fielden  is  to-day  serving  out  a 
life  seutence  as  the  result  of  forming  associations  through  which 
he  was  led  to  mingle  with  agitators  anarchistic,  whose  teachings 
were  treasonable.  Though  not  endowed  by  nature  with  procliv- 
ities whose  tendencies  were  toward  violence  and  bloodshed,  yet 
being  full  of  vanity  and  of  a  vacillating  nature  was  led  to  make 
speeches  of  an  incendiary  and  revolutionary  character  which 
indentified  him  with  those  responsible  for  the  result  of  the  fatal 
bomb,  and  doomed  him  to  a  life  of  unrequited  toil  and  of  penal 
servitude. 

ADOLPH    FISCHER. 

Adolph  Fischer,  who  was  about  thirty  years  old,  came  to 
this  country  from  Germany  when  a  boy,  and  learned  the  print- 
er's trade  with  his  brother,  who  was  editor  of  a  German  weekly 
at  Nashville,  Tenn.  For  several  years  Fischer  was  editor  and 
proprietor  of  the  Little  Rock  (Ark.)  Stoats  ZeUung.  This  he 
sold  in  1881,  after  which  he  worked  at  his  trade  in  St.  Louis  and 
Chicago.  After  coming  to  Chicago  he  became  a  most  rabid 
anarchist,  and  often  accused  Spies  and  Schwab  of  being  half- 
hearted, and  of  not  having  the  courage  to  express  their  convic- 
tions. He,  like  Engel,  believed  they  were  not  radical  enough. 
At  one  time  he,  with  Engel  and  Fehling,  started  De  Anarchist, 
a  fire-eating  weekly,  designed  to  supplant  the  Arlh  it'  r  '/>  itnn<j. 

He  entered  with  all  his  possible  energy  into  the  spirit  of 
socialism  and  anarchy,  so  much  so,  that  it  became  his  only  theme 
and  the  source  of  happiness  to  him  which  he  fully  expressed  in 
his  last  words  upon  the  gallows,  viz :  "This  is  the  happiest 
moment  of  my  life.'1  If  that  were  the  case,  what  an  unendur- 
able life  were  his,  and  the  prospect  of  dissolution  offered  a  rest 


256  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

from  the  self- inflicted  torment  of  continuing  to  live. 

GEORGE    ENGEL. 

George  Engel  was  born  in  Cassel,  Germany,  in  1836.  He 
received  a  common  school  education  and  learned  the  printer's 
trade.  He  came  to  America  in  1873,  and  a  year  later  to  Chicago, 
where  he  became  a  convert  to  socialism,  and  later  a  rabid 
anarchist,     He  founded  the  famous  "Northwest  group11  in  1883. 

He  spoke  English  very  imperfectly,  and  with  great  difficulty, 
he  manifested  no  desire  to  make  progress  in  anything  except  in 
anarchy.  The  sinister  expression  of  his  countenance  indicated 
a  dogged  stubborn  and  cruel  nature,  full  of  malice  and  hatred 
which  led  him  to  use  this  latest  breath  in  a  "hurrah  for 
anarchy  "  upon  the  gallows.  Such  men  behold  nothing  beauti- 
ful in  nature,  nor  anything  to  admire  in  well  organized  society, 
under  the  mad  misrule  of  anarchy  controlled  by  such  an  element, 
society  would  soon  lapse  back  to  the  days  of  primitive  barbar- 
ism and  superstition. 

MICHAEL    SCHWAB. 

Michael  Schwab  was  born  near  Mannheim,  Germany,  in  1853, 
and  was  educated  in  a  convent.  For  several  years  he  worked 
at  the  book-binding  trade  in  various  cities.  He  came  to  Amer- 
ica in  1879. 

He  was  a  co-adjutor  with  August  Spies  in  connection  with 
the  Arbeiter  Zeitung.  He  was  a  pronounced  socialist,  though  of 
a  milder  type  than  Spies,  Parsons  or  Fischer.  He  was  vacil- 
lating in  his  nature,  and  not  calculated  for  a  leader,  but  capable 
of  being  led.  Had  he  chosen  for  his  companions  loyal  and 
patriotic  associates,  he  doubtless  would  have  become  a  trusted 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  257 

citizen  and  a  champion  of  American  institutions  instead  of  a 
propagator  of  anarchy  which  cost  him  the  price  of  his  liberty. 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

Oscar  W.  Neebe  was  born  in  New  York  city  on  the  12th  day 
of  July  in  the  year  1850.  His  parents  were  German,  and  in 
order  to  give  their  children  an  education  in  German  they 
removed  from  New  YoYk  to  Germany  when  ( >scar  was  but  a 
child.  His  boyhood  and  school  days  were  spent  in  Hesse  Cas- 
sel.  But  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years  he  returned  to  Xew  York 
and  as  he  expresses  himself,  was  glad  to  set  foot  once  more  upon 
the  land  of  the  free,  where  all  men  were  equal  regardless  of 
color  or  nationality,  for  the  war  had  just  closed  which  had 
stricken  the  chains  and  festering  fetters  from  the  limbs  of  the 
African  slave,  which  meant  the  unbarring  of  the  dungeon  of 
the  mind,  giving  them  the  right  to  acquire  an  education  which 
before  was  denied  them,  and  making  them  heir  to  the  inalienable 
rights  of  citizenship.  He  says  kt  I  saw  the  sun -browned  soldiers 
of  the  federal  army  returning  from  the  South  where  they  had 
fought  for  liberty  and  freedom,  and  learned  to  love  them  as 
brothers  when  I   heard  them  say :     l  There  is   now   no  more 

slavery.11' 

Catching  the  inspiration  of  these  words  of  Horace  Greely: 
"Go  West  young  man,"'  he  accordingly  came  to  Chicago  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  years,  but  returned  to  New  York  again  where  he 
learned  the  trade  of  tinsmith  and  cornice-maker.  But  New 
York,  with  all  its  fascinations,  failed  to  constitute  him  contented 
and  happy,  and  in  February,  1877,  we  find  him  again  in  Chicago 
where  he  commenced  work  for  the  Adams  and  Westlake  Man- 
ufacturing Company.     He  states  that  he  was  discharged  July  1, 


258  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

for  daring  to  champion  the  working  man,  and  at  times  was 
reduced  to  poverty  and  almost  starvation  because  of  his  avowed 
proclivities  as  an  agitator. 

He  had  become  identified  with  the  socialistic  agitators  in 
1877,  and  the  active  part  and  interest  manifested  by  him  in  the 
socialists  was  largely  responsible  for  his  lack  of  success  in 
obtaining  and  holding  a  situation.  In  1878  he  obtained  a  situ- 
ation as  salesman  for  the  Riversdale  Distillery  Company,  selling 
their  compressed  yeast. 

His  financial  embarrassment  threw  him  largely  among  the 
agitators  of  the  Labor  party,  and  in  1886,  after  the  Haymarket 
riot,  he  was  arrested  and  tried  for  murder  or  for  complicity  in 
the  conspiracy  which  led  to  the  massacre  for  which  he  received 
a  sentence  of  fifteen  years  in  the  penitentiary. 

LOUIS  LINGG 

was  only  twenty-one  years  old,  and  was  the  youngest  of  the 
doomed  anarchists.  He  was  born  in  Baden,  Germany,  in  1864 
He  secured  a  common  school  education  in  Germany.  He  left 
his  native  country  when  very  young  and  went  to  Switzerland 
where  he  remained  several  years.  He  came  to  America  in  1885, 
working  at  the  carpenter  trade,  at  the  same  time  availing  him- 
self of  every  opportunity  for  the  development  of  his  anarchistic 
proclivities,  which  seemed  to  be  the  heighth  of  his  ambition. 
He  wrote  his  autobiography  after  having  received  the  death 
sentence,  which  we  decline  to  publish  in  consequence  of  its  rabid 
and  treasonable  type  of  anarchy,  sufficient  in  itself  to  prove  his 
complicity  in  the  foul  conspiracy.  He  was  one  of  the  most  arch 
plotters  of  dark  and  tragic  histoiy. 


JNO.  BONFIELD. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  259 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

BIOGRAPHICAL    RECORD     OK    JOHN     BONFIELD,    INSPECTOR    AND    SEC- 
RETARY OF  POLICE  DEPARTMENT.       BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SHER- 
IFF     MATSON,    JUDGE      GARY,     JUDGE     GRINELL. 
TRIBUTE    TO    CAPTAIN    SCIIAACK. 

BIOGRAPHICAL    RECORD 

of  John  Bonfield,  Esq.,  inspector  and  secretary  of  Police  Depart- 
ment. 

He  was  born  in  the  year  1836,  at  Bathurst,  New  Brunswick. 
His  father  was  a  thriving;  fanner,  but  in  order  to  irive  his  child- 
ren  the  advantages  of  superior  facilities  for  education,  removed 
to  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  in  1842,  and  in  1844  he  came  with  his  family 
to  Chicago. 

John  Bonfield,  after  finishing  his  education,  and  by  his 
natural  talent  and  shrewdness  having  obtained  a  large  stock  of 
general  knowledge  from  the  ordinary  pursuits  of  life  in  which 
he  had  engaged,  became  identified  with  the  police  force  of  Chi- 
cago in  the  year  1878  as  patrolman.  But  he  was  destined  to 
occupy  a  subordinate  position  for  only  a  brief  period,  as  in  1879 
he  was  placed  upon  the  staff  of  detectives. 

His  true  nobility  of  character,  noble  bearing,  and  faithful 
discharge  of  his  duties  won  for  him  the  confidence  of  all,  and 
in  1880  he  gained  one  more  step  in  the  golden  ladder  of  fame, 
being  raised  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant.  He  was  next  appointed 
captain  of  the  Third  precint,  and  in  1885  was  made  inspector 
of  the  entire  police  force. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 


Owing  to  the  brave  and  gallant  bearing  of  Inspector  Bon- 
field  in  relation  to  the  faithful  discharge  of  his  every  duty  dur- 
ing his  past  career,  (thereby  winning  the  confidence  of  superior 
officers  relative  to  his  ability,)  he  was  entrusted  with  the  entire 
command  of  the  detachment  who  so  bravely  on  the  night  of 
May  4,  1886,  turned  back  the  tide  of  anarchy  which  threatened 
to  sweep  like  a  tidal  wave  over  the  fairest  heritage  upon  God's 
green  earth,  scattering  death  and  debris  all  along  its  terrible 
track.  Truly  if  brave  deeds  and  noble  acts,  and  honesty  of 
purpose,  coupled  with  patriotism  are  worthy  of  note,  the  name 
of  John  Bonfield  and  the  brave  officers  under  his  command  on 
that  terrible  night  of  the  Haymarket  massacre,  shall  live  for- 
ever upon  the  brightest  page  of  the  historian. 


CANUTE    R.    MATSON 


was  born  in  Norway  in  the  year  1843.  He  emigrated  with  his 
parents  to  America  in  1848,  and  settled  in  Walworth  county, 
Wisconsin,  but  removed  in  a  short  time  to  Dane  county,  Wis- 
consin, where  in  1858  he  entered  Albion  Academy,  and  as  a 
natural  sequence  of  his  insatiate  thirst  for  knowledge  he  made 
rapid  progress  maintaining  ever  a  prominent  place  at  the  head  of 
his  class.  He  was  a  student  in  Milton  College  at  the  opening  of 
the  war.  The  inherent  patriotism  of  a  noble  nature  had  been 
fanned  into  a  flame  by  the  institutions  of  American  freedom, 
and  he  at  once  offered  himself  as  a  sacrifice,  if  need  be,  in  the 
defense  of  his  adopted  country,  by  enlisting  in  1861  in  the 
Union  army  as  a  private  soldier  in  Company  K,  Thirteenth  Wis- 
consin Infantry.  In  1862  he  was  made  commissary  sergeant, 
He  was  raised  to  lieutenant  of  Company  G.,  in  1864,  and  was 
acting  regimental  quartermaster  at  the  close  of  the  war  in  1865, 


C.  R.  MATSON. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  261 

and  received  his  honorable  discharge  bearing  the  untarnished 
reputation  of  a  brave  soldier  and  a  noble  officer. 

He  afterward  obtained  a  position  in  the  postoffice  where  he 
published  the  Postal  Recovd,2,\\  official  paper  of  the  department 

In  1868  he  was  elected  clerk  of  the  Police  Court.  In  1H71 
he  was  accorded  the  power  to  appoint,  and  also  the  supervision 
of  the  deputies.  In  1875  he  was  appointed  justice  of  the  peace. 
In  1878  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  ran  for  sheriffin  1879 
and  was  only  defeated  by  a  very  small  majority  in  favor  of  his 
opponent.  He  served  two  years  as  coroner,  being  nominated 
by  acclammation  when  he  satisfied  all  parties  of  his  intent,  and 
ability  to  perform  the  duties  of  his  office  with  credit  to  himself 
and  honor  to  those  by  whose  effort  he  had  been  placed  in  s<> 
responsible  a  position, 

In  1882  he  was  again  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  sheriff 
through  the  importunities  of  his  friends,  and  was  barely 
defeated  by  S.  F.  Hanchett,  who  in  selecting  a  chief  deputy 
made  the  wise  choice  of  C.  II.  Matson,  which  position  he  filled 
to  the  close  of  the  term,  giving  entire  satisfaction  to  all  parties 
with  whom  he  came  in  contact  in  connection  with  the  discharge 
of  his  official  duties. 

He  has  obtained  all  the  honorable  and  responsible  positions 
which  he  has  filled  solely  upon  his  merits,  and  has  retained  them 
with  the  confidence  of  the  public  by  the  efficient  and  impartial 
manner  in  which  he  has  served  the  people  of  Cook  count}-. 

He  was  installed  in  the  office  of  sheriff  of  Cook  count)  Dec. 
6,  1886,  enjoying  still  the  confidence  of  the  people.  He  is  a 
man  of  great  heart,  broad  and  deep  sympathies,  yet  unswerv- 
ing in  the  administration  of  the  law  as  a  sacred  obligation  he 
owes  to  the  public,  and  in  the  years  to  come  history  replete  with 


262  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

the  sayings  and  doings  of  the  great  men  of  to-day  will  shed  a 
halo  of  glory  forever  upon  the  name  of  Canute  R.  Matson  as  a 
brave,  true  and  noble  man,  and  the  most  prominent  Scandina- 
vian leader  of  the  era  in  which  he  lived,  having  left  an  example 
worthy  of  emulation  by  those  who  shall  come  after  him. 

JOSEPH    E.    GARY, 

the  presiding  judge  at  the  trial  of  the  anarchists,  was  born  at 
Potsdam,  New  York,  July  9,  1821,  at  which  place  he  received  a 
common  school  education  where  he  also  spent  his  early  boyhood 
days  until  1843,  when  he  went  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  read  law, 
opening  his  first  law  office  at  Springfield,  Mo.  But  in  1849  he 
removed  to  Las  Vegas,  N.  M.,  where  he  learned  to  write  well 
and  speak  fluently  the  Spanish  language.  He  removed  to  San 
Francisco,  CaL,  where  he  practiced  his  chosen  profession  until 
1856,  when  he  returned  to  Chicago  and  formed  a  co-partnership 
with  Murray  F.  Tuley,  now  Judge  Tuley  of  the  bench.  He 
finally  became  a  law  partner  with  E.  and  A.  Van  Buren,  which 
continued  until  1863,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  bench.  His 
judicial  mind  and  clear  comprehensive  sense  of  right  places  him 
high  among  his  compeers  as  a  celebrity  upon  the  technicalities 
of  law.     He  is  esteemed  by  all  who  know  him. 

JULIUS  S.  GRINNELL 

was  born  at  Massena,  St.  Lawrence  county,  New  York,  in  1842. 
He  is  of  French- Welsh  extraction,  but  it  is  not  of  his  illustrious 
ancestors  we  wish  to  speak  in  this  sketch.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
the  Grinnell  family  are  among  the  oldest  and  best  families  of  the 
Eastern  and  New  England  States.  Julius  S.  Grinnell  graduated 
in  the  office  of  the  Hon.  William  C.  Brown  in  Ogdensburg,  N. 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF    VNARCHY.  263 

Y.,  in  1868.  He  came  to  Chicago  in  1870  wherehecommciic.il 
to  struggle  manfully  toward  the  summit  of  fame.  His  eloquence 
and  oratory,  along  with  the  comprehensive  grasp  of  a  mosl 
extraordinary  mind  has  made  his  ascent  rapid  and  sure.  His 
high  aims  and  lofty  aspirations  have  in  early  life  been  rewarded. 
He  can  exclaim  "Eureka,"  as  at  the  age  of  forty-six  years  he 
has  been  elected  to  the  bench. 

CAPTAIN  SCHAACK, 

of  the  Fifth  precinct  is  deserving  of  great  credit,  not  merely  for 
the  assiduity  with  which  he  applied  himself  to  the  fatiguing 
duties  of  unraveling  the  mysteries  of  anarchy  in  secret  organi- 
zation, but  also  for  the  tact  and  shrewdness  coupled  with  the 
fearless  manner  in  which  he  discharged  the  dangerous  duties 
incident  to  his  office  during  the  reign  of  terror  which  succeeded 
the  Haymarket  tragedy.  It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  Captain 
Schaack  was  one  of  the  most  energetic  workers,  as  well  as  one 
of  the  principal  factors  in  ferreting  out  and  dragging  to  justice 
the  dangerous  element  of  socialism  and  anarchy  in  the  great 
conspiracy.  Chicago  is  indebted  to  Captain  Schaack  for  a  large 
majority  of  the  evidence  which  resulted  in  the  conviction,  con- 
demnation, and  execution  of  these  lawless  men  whose  object  and 
aim  was  to  sow  the  seeds  of  discord  and  confusion  in  the  refined 
and  well -organized  circles  of  society.  The  low-browed  class  of 
ignorant  men  who  stood  around  their  leaders  and  in  discordant 
voices  howled  their  praise,  were,  under  this  leadership  capable 
of  the  wildest  onset,  or  the  dark  and  patient  vigil,  of  him  who 
treasures  up  in  heart  of  hatred  an  imaginary  wrong.  Every 
step  taken  by  Captain  Schaack  and  his  faithful  band  of  tried 
men  was  full  of  dangers.     Over  fifty  bombs  had  been  made 


264  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

and  distributed  throughout  the  city.  One  had  fallen  with  deadly- 
effect,  and  any  moment  another  might  be  expected  to  scatter 
death  and  debris  among  the  ranks  of  faithful  officers,  who  when 
detailed  for  service  knew  not  but  they  were  being  led  as  sheep 
to  the  slaughter. 

In  the  ages  to  come  when  as  a  record  of  history  this  anarch- 
istic conspiracy  of  1886  is  referred  to,  the  bold  acts  of  noble 
daring,  the  skill,  bravery  and  self-sacrificing  spirit  of  Captain 
Schaack  in  the  suppression  of  anarchy  will  be  remembered  by 
a  grateful  people  as  a  monument  to  immortalize  his  name. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

EULOGY  TO    THE    POLICE.       BOLDLY  THEY  FOUGHT  AND  WELL.       CON- 
TRAST   BETWEEN    CAPITAL  AND  LABOR.       THE  ANARCHISTS' 
FATAL   DELUSION.       THE    UNITED    STATES 
NATIONAL    ANTHEM. 

EULOGIZING    THE    POLICE. 

What  peace-loving  citizen  of  Chicago  desiring  her  commer- 
cial prosperity  and  the  perpetuity  of  American  institutions,  with 
all  it  means  of  home  and  protection  for  free-born  American  citi- 
zens to  behold  our  starry  banner  still  proudly  floating  from  the 
citadel  of  the  most  free  country  upon  God's  green  earth,  but 
will  with  me  thank  God  for  the  blessings  of  peace  secured  to  us 
by  the  prompt  and  steady  action  of  our  brave  and  noble  police 
on  the  night  of  May  4, 1886.  When  forgetful  of  their  own  personal 
safety  in  their  devotion  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  over  the  pros- 
trate forms  of  mangled  and  dying  comrades  they  charged  this 
treacherous  band  of  alien  outlaws,  beating  down  the  red  hand 
of  anarchy  which  was  reaching  out  its  tentacles  to  usurp  the 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

birthright  of  this  nation  bequeathed  to  it  by  our  ancestors  and 
made  sacred  to  every  loyal  heart  by  a  baptism  of  the  blood  of 

uur  sires  and  grandsires  in  1776. 

Not  one  ray  of  light  from  one  single  star  upon  our  grand  old 
flag  shall  ever  tarnish  its  glory  or  dim  its  radiance  in  the  shadow 
of  the  crimson  flag  of  anarchy. 

With  reference  to  that  terrible  night  who  will  not  with  me 
adopt  the  following  language: 

"  When  can  their  glory  fade?  " 
It  was  to  us  a  blood  fought  victory,  and  every  officer  who 
poured  out  his  life  on  that  eventful  night  is  deserving  <>f  a 
monument  in  the  hearts  of  a  grateful  people  and  a  prominent 
place  among  the  wreath- crowned  martyrs  in  the  cause  of  liberty, 
Chicago's  entire  force  who  respond  so  promptly  to  a  call,  dis- 
charging their  duty  so  faithfully,  are  worthy  the  name  of  heroes 
as  justly  as  those  who  have  spilled  rivers  of  blood  upon  the 
ensanguined  field  of  Marathon  or  Waterloo. 

What  matters  it  now  to  Officer  Degan  and  his  slaughtered 
comrades  that  u  boldly  they  fought  and  well.'1  Their  widowed 
wives  and  orphan  children  tell  the  price  they  paid  for  the  bless- 
ings of  peace  we  to-day  enjoy. 

The  maimed  and  suffering  officers  we  daily  behold  as  the 
result  of  that  direful  night  speak  plainly  of  what  it  cost  them 
in  the  protection  of  our  blood-bought  privileges  of  177b. 

Verily,  a  monument  of  marble  should  be  erected  t<>  their 
memory  upon  the  spot  where  they  fell,  bearing  the  names  of  that 
gallant  band  who  so  bravely  turned  back  the  incoming  t'de, 
whose  black  and  seething  waters  threatened  to  wreck  the  foun- 
dations of  our  social,  civil  and  national  institutions. 


266  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 


CAPITAL    AND    LABOR. 


Two  young  men  from  the  same  nourishing  little  town,  and 
bosom  friends  graduate  from  the  same  school,  each  with  aspira- 
tions lofty  as  the  pinnacle  of  fame.  Each  one  chooses  an  art 
or  craft,  or  profession.  Each  man  has  the  same  chance  to  suc- 
ceed. The  avenues  of  trade  and  commerce  are  open  alike  to 
all.  One  of  these  young  men  well  knowing  that  there  is  no 
royal  road  to  wealth  and  fame,  and  that  his  success  depends 
solely  upon  his  economy  and  industry,  wisely  adopts  a  code  of 
laws  by  which  his  life  is  to  be  regulated  and  governed,  and  his 
future  of  success  or  failure  determined.  He  remembers  that  his 
preceptor  once  remarked  to  him  thus  :  "  Raymond,  remember 
this :  If  you  ever  expect  to  become  wealthy,  spend  each  day  less 
than  you  earn,11  and  he  had  adopted  it.  He  husbanded  each 
week,  and  month,  and  year  a  portion  of  his  earnings;  years  pass 
on  and  his  coffers  are  filling  with  that  yellow  god  which  sways 
the  destinies  of  men  and  empires.  He  engages  in  manufacturing 
enterprises  or  mercantile  pursuits,  and  his  happiness  is  complete 
in  his  palatial  home,  with  a  lovely  wife  and  children  as  a  key- 
stone crowning  the  arch  which  spans  the  dark  and  turbid  stream 
of  life. 

Let  us  follow  the  other  young  man  who  started  in  the  race 
at  the  same  time  and  under  the  same  auspicious  circumstances. 
He  has  taken  a  different  course.  He  has  not  been  idle  but  a 
spendthrift,  working  during  the  week  earning  money  to  spend 
among  his  boon  companions  during  Sunday,  and  is  always  in 
debt  and  trouble  as  he  is  spending  more  than  he  earns.  He  has 
availed  himself  of  the  privilege  of  rejoicing  in  the  days  of  his 
youth,  walking  in  the  ways  of  his  heart  and  the  sight   of  his 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  267 

eyes,  forgetting  that  for  all  these  tilings  he  will  be  brought  into 
judgment,  as  no  law  of  our  physical  nature  or  social  standing 
can  be  violated  with  impunity,  there  is  no  appeal  from  the  self* 
inflicted  punishment  of  an  accusing  conscience  for  extreme 
prodigality  and  reckless  expenditure  in  riotous  living.  To-night 
he  is  standing  upon  the  corner  of  the  street  shivering  under  the 
biting  blast  which  is  sifting  the  early  snow  of  winter  amid  his 
prematurely  grizzled  hair.  He  is  not  at  peace  with  himself  or 
the  world.  He  hates  himself  for  being  poor  and  others  for 
being  rich.  At  this  juncture  the  elegantly  equipped  carriage  of 
his  former  classmate  rolls  past.  Its  owner  is  now  a  millionaire 
by  earnest,  honest  and  persevering  endeavor.  He  is  a  homeless 
pauper  and  the  self-constituted  architect  of  his  own  misfortunes, 
yet  he  is  willing  to  offer  himself  as  a  representative  of  the  ter- 
rible contrast  between  capital  and  labor. 

THE    ANARCHIST'S    FATAL    DELUSION. 

Under  the  fascination  of  rose-tinted  delusion  whose  fatal 
mists  obscure  the  mental  and  moral  realm  of  thought,  many 
become  criminals,  goaded  on  by  blind  infatuation  which  perse- 
vered in  becomes  a  passion  all-absorbing  in  its  nature.  In  the 
blindness  of  their  infatuation  they  seek  to  immortalize  their 
names  by  a  bold  and  base  attempt  at  the  subversion  of  law  and 
order. 

Having  by  the  mad  misrule  of  anarchy  rendered  themselves 
amenable  to  law,  and  by  crime  forfeited  not  only  their  liberty 
but  their  lives,  they  stubbornly  refuse  to  ask  for  executive 
clemency,  choosing  death  in  the  error  of  their  ways,  and  in  tin- 
language  of  Patrick  Henry  demanding  unconditional  "liberty  or 
death.1'     These   anarchists  under  the  delusion   that  they  were 


268  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY. 

becoming  martyrs,  courted  death,  and  from  the  gallows  raised 
a  defiant  shout  for  the  perpetuity  and  progress  of  anarchy  which 
they  fondly  hoped  would  go  ringing  down  the  corridors  of  time, 
increased  by  tributaries  until  anarchy  as  a  mighty  torrent  should 
bear  away  law,  order  and  civilization  by  the  fury  of  its  resistless 
force,  until  bombs,  dynamite  and  treason  should  triumph.  Under 
the  sophistry  and  insidious  teachings  of  the  nefarious  Herr 
Most,  anarchy  developed  rapidly  in  Chicago,  and  his  minions 
were  willing  to  offer  up  wives  and  children,  liberty,  even  life  if 
necessary,  in  the  interest  of  the  cause  they  had  espoused.  They 
raised  their  voice  publicly  in  denouncing  imaginary  wrongs  and 
the  plaudits  of  the  admiring  ignorant  lower  classes  amounted 
to  an  inspiration  to  them  which  urged  them  on  to  openly  advo- 
cate deeds  of  violence  and  blood.  Herr  Most  has  stated  that 
the  gibbet  upon  which  these  anarchist  murderers  paid  the  pen- 
alty for  their  crimes  will  in  the  ages  to  come  be  looked  upon 
with  the  same  veneration  that  the  cross  is  by  the  Christian. 

Now,  that  the  majesty  of  the  law  has  been  maintained  in 
their  execution,  their  sympathizing  followers  seek  to  erect  a  mon- 
ument to  perpetuate  their  memory,  the  most  fitting  tablet  over 
their  grave  should  be,  "  Here  lies  anarchy  in  her  shameful 
tomb."  "  Oh !  Torquemada,  from  thy  fiery  jail,"  and  thou 
u  George  Jeffries,  from  underneath  the  altar  which  seeks  with 
Christian  charity  to  hide  thy  hated  bones, "  with  the  long  line 
of  hideous  cruel  monsters  from  the  dead,  come  and  compare  thy 
deeds  in  contrast  with  thy  lesser  light  and  knowledge. 

"  Come  seek  thy  equals  here." 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ANARCHY.  269 


UNITED  STATES  NATIONAL  ANTHEM. 


BY    W.    R.    WALLACE. 

*OD  of  the  Free!  upon  Thy  breath 
I     Our  Flag  is  for  the  Right  unrolled, 
As  broad  and  brave  as  when  its  stars, 
First  lit  the  hallowed  time  of  old. 

For  Duty  still  its  folds  shall  fly; 

For  Honor  still  its  glories  burn, 
Where  Truth,  Religion,  Valor,  guard 

The  patriot's  sword  and  martyr's  urn. 

No  tyrant's  impious  step  is  ours; 

No  lust  of  power  on  nations  rolled; 
Our  Flag — for  friends,  a  starry  sky, 

For  traitors,  storm  in  every  fold. 

O  thus  we'll  keep  our  Nation's  life, 

Nor  fear  the  bolt  by  despots  hurled; 
The  blood  of  all  the  world  is  here, 

And  they  who  strike  us,  strike  the  world- 
God  of  the  Free!  our  Nation  bless 

In  its  strong  manhood  as  its  birth; 
And  make  its  life  a  star  of  hope 

For  all  the  struggling  of  the  Earth. 

Then  shout  beside  thine  Oak,  O  North! 

O  South!  wave  answer  with  thy  palm; 
And  in  our  Union's  heritage 

Together  sing  the  Nation's  Psalm ! 

The  End. 


,'££ 


":^: 


■*# 


f 


